Minutes of Garden State Audubon Council

Summer Meeting

Garden State Audubon Council June 18, 2005

Attending: Atlantic Audubon Society: Ed Bristow, Gerry Satz, Alan Martens; Bergen County Audubon Society: David Hall, Nancy Hall; Monmouth County Audubon Society: Wendy Malmid, Stuart Malmid; New Jersey Audubon Society: Ted Korth; Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge Manager: Steve Atzert

The meeting of the GSAC was held at the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.

President’s Report (Dave Hall)

Highlands Audubon has disbanded, although some members still meet informally.
Washington Crossing Audubon Society is still very active in the Council, but no representatives were able to attend today’s meeting.

Election of the regional representative to the NAS board of directors is currently underway. Each chapter must vote by June 30. Dave Pardoe cannot run for re-election; there is only one candidate running for the directorship representing the chapters of the Mid-Atlantic region. Although there was some confusion, it appears that NJ will remain in the Mid-Atlantic region after the new realignment of NAS regions next year.

Treasurer’s report (Carole Baligh) (via email)

She noted a balance of approximately $11,700.
All chapters except AAS owe dues to be sent to Carole Baligh.
In May 2005, the Council contributed $5000 to NJAS for the IBBA. A letter of appreciation has been received from NJAS.

We were welcomed to the refuge by Ed Bristow. Steve Atzert spoke about the Forsythe NWR, especially about habitat management issues and invasive species. Ed Bristow made a presentation about plans for a new refuge headquarters building, to be placed on the bluff very close to the current site. There was no NAS report this time. Currently the NAS website is helping to generate letters on the Red Knot issue (see NJAS report).

NJAS Report

Ted Korth discussed a number of key action issues. These include
  1. wind turbines and the potential for bird impact problems,
  2. the horseshoe crab and Red Knot situation along Delaware Bay, and
  3. state spending for state parks and forests.
See the NJAS website for current information and for an easy way to send out letters to your local representatives on these topics. The Governor has placed an emergency moratorium on crab harvesting for early summer, but many crabs were taken during an 18 hour period just in advance of the moratorium.
There is rather little movement politically on most environmental issues in advance of the fall elections. But Ted predicts that there may be very good chances after the first of the year, when the governorship changes.

Chapters discussed ideas for increasing attendance at chapter field trips and meetings.

  1. AAS sends out e-mails to remind members of upcoming programs and trips, since this is more timely than the newsletter.
  2. MCAS publicizes their trips and programs by sending an e-mail to JerseyBirds@Princeton.edu. JerseyBirds is a bird chat line.
  3. BCAS uses a printed brochure to advertise their programs and field trips, distributed at libraries, stores and nature centers. The brochure is issued every 6 months.
  4. Chapters were asked to publicize the GSAC website (www.GardenStateAudubonCouncil.org/) by placing links on their own chapter websites. GSAC already provides links to all of the chapter websites. By this means, members of any chapter could quickly know about upcoming events across the state.
The next GSAC meeting is currently planned for Sunday January 8, 2006 in central New Jersey, at either Plainsboro or Princeton Institute. It will be time then to elect a President and a Treasurer for the Council.

Potential volunteers for these Council positions should contact Dave Hall. It is particularly important to identify a candidate for the Treasurer position, since Carole Baligh would prefer to give up this job.

After the meeting was adjourned, a van tour was given of the NWR, led by Steve Atzert and Ed Bristow. We were fortunate to see the visiting American White Pelican, two active Osprey nests, and two Peregrine Falcons.

Nancy Hall
Secretary, GSAC