Board Meeting Minutes October 30, 2003

TN-EPPC Board Meeting Thursday October 30, 2003 10:00 am EST
TN River Gorge Trust Pot Point House, Chattanooga, TN

In Attendance:  Kris Johnson, Pat Parr, Bob Parrish, Nancy Fraley, Anni Self, Richard Clements, Jack Ranney, Terri Hogan, David Lincicome, Carrie Miller, and Dan Brown, and Guests: Susie X (Yates? of TN River Gorge Trust?) and Donna Hertlein of Lookout Mountain Land Trust

Guest Speaker: David Arnold, Tennessee Division of Forestry, speaking about the Forest Land Enhancement Program (FLEP)

Welcome and Introductions

Minutes:  A motion was made, seconded, and carried to approve the minutes from the previous meeting.  Minutes will be forwarded to SE-EPPC for posting on that website.

Treasurer’s Report:

General Operating Account: $793.90

Money Market: $7091.83

Total Assets: $7,885.73

A motion was made, seconded, and carried to approve the treasurer’s report from the previous meeting. 

Credit Card Account from SE-EPPC Conference-Anni pointed out that we are still paying for the credit card account that was opened to allow us to take credit cards for TN-EPPC's sponsors at the SE-EPPC conference. SE-EPPC should be paying the bill and should reimburse us for what we’ve paid. Bob and Anni will contact them.

Old Business:

Draft letter to TDOT and logo letterhead-Richard has the letter on one page with the logo. We need to reference Candy Swan’s TDOT paper Native plants and wildflowers for roadside plantings in the letter and enclose it in the mailing to TDOT. This paper involved different experimental plots and establishment methods. Nancy will make photocopies of Candy’s paper for TN-EPPC and make it available on the web. Richard will send the edited letter to Pat. Nancy will send her copy of Candy Swann’s report to Pat. Recommendations of information to include in the letter include increasing number of reasons for using natives (wildlife) and listing some native species such as Coreopsis, Liatris, and Silphium.

Richard sent around examples of letterhead logo.

Letter to TN Ag on Noxious Weed List-Anni sent five recommendations of exotic invasive species to Roger Spivey of TNLA for comments. Suggestions: Bush honeysuckle Lonicera x bella (or Lonicera species), Salvinia molesta, European and Chinese privet, Mimosa, species on the state list, tropical soda apple, and purple loosestrife.

Status of website – Richard reported that the new website is up and running with a working counter. The new name is www.tneppc.org. Pat listed some website needs: list of what we endorse followed by bullets. Pat will review TN-EPPC material to find out what those are. Se-eppc link works now thanks to Carrie and Richard. Some of our materials need to be edited for the new website name. Carrie can print labels with the change. Richard can work on it too. Fairfield must also be changed to Fairview on the membership forms. We just have a few TN-EPPC pamphlets left on which changes need to be made. David will talk to Brian and arrange a new printing with changes (Fairfield, www.tneppc.org). Carrie will send out mailing to membership with changes. Invasive plant list may not be on web, Richard will correct.

Getting the word out

Jack’s briefing with the Federal Highway Administration – They have asked for input. What is important to TN-EPPC: construction issues, focus on problem species. Pat suggested a working session with the Fed Highway Administration reps to find out their interests and needs. Bonnie Harper-Lore would probably be of help. Kris would be able to work with Jack. Bob suggested working with people researching bird mortality related to highways (Partners in Flight and TN Ornithological Society). Jack recommends a non-confrontational approach.

Conference inserts for Orlando meeting - Thanks to David and Carrie for taking care of the brochures and to Carrie for representing TN-EPPC.

Reflection Riding Native Plant Sale - Richard took the display and Jack’s PowerPoint presentation which he set up as a self-running program. Richard met Margie of author of Gardening with Natives. She will add a TN-EPPC link to her site.

Natural Areas Association meeting – Nancy attended the meeting in Madison, WI. Saturday’s sessions focused on invasives. She also attended the SE-EPPC meeting where creation of an umbrella organization and/or changing the organization’s name to create a North American EPPC were discussed. Discussions of this subject will continue. Another issue that was raised is the importance of using the words invasive exotics.

National Public Lands Day-Nancy gave a summary of TVA’s NPLD projects.

TNLA Newsletter- Jack working with Steve Garton on newsletter article.

Other:

Kris spoke before a class at UT. The professor got her name from the website.

Jack put together a canned presentation for environmental science students in the Knoxville area. He suggested that we may want a PowerPoint on the website that is simpler and takes less memory. Richard has software for putting things on web that reduces the file by 95%. Nancy-can also compress ppt presentation. Jack will work on the ppt and send it out to everyone.

10^th Anniversary Events

Middle Tennessee:

Dickson County Invasive Weed and Identification Workshop

Overview of the day

Friday, June 11, 9AM to 3PM on Dan’s farm; target group is farmer and hobby farmers; agencies from adjoining counties will be invited; advertised through local media and posters; expect 50-100 attendees; sponsors: TN-EPPC, TN Division of Forestry, NRCS, UT Extension Service, Nancy asked about including TVA (someone from that watershed area), TWRA; teaching groups are pasture, fenceline, yard, woodlot

Nancy will help with the aquatic pest plant poster. She’d like someone from the Harpeth watershed to do the presentation.

TN-EPPC board involvement

TN-EPPC board will meet Thursday, June 10, 11AM or 12PM at Montgomery Bell State Park. Dan will make hotel arrangements at Montgomery Bell for five people. Anni’s husband Ken will make dinner for the board on the evening of June 10.

West Tennessee:

Symposium in Memphis at the annual meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists, April 2004

Pat provided the board with a draft agenda, needs to get the word out to folks in west Tennessee. David L. has contacts in west TN, will also check with Reggie Reeves and Brian.

East Tennessee:

Jack is organizing an event in East Tennessee to be held mid- or late summer. The workshop will be a combination of what's going on in research and control efforts in the area, what the real problems/threats are, and training on identification. Those interested in participating in the planning are Izaak Walton League, some high schools, SAMAB, Knoxville Greenways, University of Tennessee, and American Society of Landscape Architects. Other participants may include TN Division of Forestry, TWRA, TVA, and garden clubs. Nancy recommended Melinda Andrews-TVA Melton Hill office, TDEC. Jack would like to see a Knoxville Weed Team form as a result of the workshop.

Articles for Wildland Weeds

Jack working on 2 pager

Nancy is working on TN exotic invasive plants list. However, Wildland Weeds is not interested in doing another insert.

Flashcards-We will sell them at cost. The unlaminated cards seem to be nearly as durable as the laminated ones.

Membership-We need to make sure we are up to date on our memberships.

New business:

Board members/By-laws-Bob will make sure all members get a copy of the by-laws. Richard will put it on the web. We will discuss and revise at next meeting

Nominating committee for president and treasurer-Pat and Anni’s terms end next year. It is time to put together a nominating committee. Candidates are put forward in winter, vote in spring, in office by summer. Dan and Nancy on committee.

Member Initiatives and updates

Pat-2 pager on restoring native grass community from Oak Ridge

Carrie showed us some nice drafts of posters and calendars. Others brought in posters to use as examples for potential TN-EPPC exotic invasive species poster.

Poster Brainstorming session

General: written on 8^th grade level, pictures of identified plants, not too much written on front, can be easily folded, use the TN rare plant poster as template, want it to be framable [What is the standard poster size for framing (23 X 35, 20 X 28, ant poster)?]

Species to include: those from Tennessee’s top 10 list: Japanese stiltgrass, Japanese honeysuckle, oriental bittersweet, multiflora rose, Chinese and European privet, kudzu, garlic mustard, Japanese knotweed, tree-of-heaven, mimosa, Chinese air potato, Miscanthus sinensis, winter creeper, bush honeysuckle, Japanese spirea, Eurasian millfoil, princess tree, various exotic invasive thistles including musk thistle, spotted knapweed, serecia lespedeza, autumn olive, Johnson grass

Funding-Jack-USFWS has money ($4000) for posters, have about 9 months all together to spend the money from the time it is granted, may not be able to use for calendar

Responsible party-Carrie could do it. Wants input on photos and verbage on back. Pat’s office has graphic artist but no money to pay. Carrie’s office has graphic artist who can help.

Questions

How many do we want printed? Nancy checked with TVA about printing, they like it in 2,000s.

What should we target? Forest problems, lawns, pasture? The board agreed that the first poster should be general and should not focus on one type of problem.

What should be included on the back: Bob suggested comparing invasive exotics to cancer; use kudzu since most people are familiar with this species. Board members will mull this over and give their ideas at the next meeting.

David-t-shirt designs. Most members of the board liked a more simple design. Pat will play with it. Colors suggested include cream and green. The board would like collared shirts to wear when the are representing TN-EPPC.

Suggestions for next guest speaker-None

Date, location, host for Winter meeting- Thursday, Jan 22. Where: Carrie will host it at AEDC’s Lake Club.

Other

Jill Smith’s job is open at Warner Parks. Bob will be sending out a notice with pertinent information.

The FLEP program and how TN-EPPC can help-David Arnold, Tennessee Division of Forestry

Overview of FLEP

Funded by the 2002 Farm Bill; should be funded for 5 years

TN Division of Forestry administers the program from beginning to end; land owners go to their area forester’s office to get information on FLEP and sign up for the program, area foresters are the link to the landowners; program intended to help cover all of landowner’s land management objectives; landowner must keep land management practice in place for ten years; Goal: sustainable, long-term management of non-industrial land

FLEP 8 deals with invasive species control, will help with initial treatment only paying 50% or $55/acre.

David’s questions for TN-EPPC Overview of FLEP by David Arnold, Tennessee Division of Forestry

How can FLEP give the biggest bang for the buck? What control techniques work and what don’t? Forestry needs help getting specifics out on exotic invasive species control practices. How do we id exotics? Which exotics are the most problematic?

What can TN-EPPC do that will have an impact?

Training:

For TN Division of Forestry-We can help David by teaching foresters about invasive species control; provide regional training that brings in the issue of wildlife (natives for wildlife uses). There will be other training on hardwood forests maybe we could piggyback on that.

For Landowners-could target public lands that are impacted by private landowners and vice-versa, provide information from the sources listed below

Information that is currently available: flash cards, Nonnative Invasive Plants of Southern Forests: A field Guide for Identification and Control, board members

A motion was made, seconded, and carried to adjourn