Mojave National Preserve Conservancy

Minutes of the BOD Meeting August 20, 2013 Conservancy Board Members present on call: David Lamfrom, Dennis Schramm, Sid Silliman, Linda Slater, Michael Gordon Meeting commenced at 5:30pm. MNPC Financials: David reports a balance of $11541.53 for period ending June 30. Still need to pay for board training - about $2000. Facebook page: Michael added info about Silurian renewable projects. Need to add info on the fence removal project and the stargazing event. Still need bios and photos from Ben and Lynn. Membership: Sid sent out email messages over last couple of weeks to Community Foundation. Those have been successful. Now possible to make donation from our website. Had a couple of new members join. Restoration project: Sid posted two notices about upcoming project. Will double check with whether San Francisco folks (Bob) have been contacted. Renewables: NPCA has taken up the Silurian Valley (17 miles north of Baker) issue. Believes it is completely inappropriate place. NPS PW Region recently issued letter opposing project. David asked about our group taking a position on the project. Sid asked about Soda Mountain. David says these two are top two projects he is working on. Ambassadors: Board members reaching out to community about our group and the Preserve. Ruth brought this up at our board training and suggested it be brought up at each board meeting. Page 4 of her notes addresses things to discuss and also pages 5-6 of pre-meeting packet. Sid brought up today to brainstorm who to reach out to. David mentioned group that was integral in creation of the Preserve. Sid mentioned Desert Committee of Sierra Club. Desert Survivors. NPCA. Linda mentioned youth hunting group. Four wheel drive groups. Private property owners. Retired NPS folks. Artists that exhibit in Kelso Depot. Sid suggests that we each list 34 groups that we would volunteer to reach out to. Each board member agreed to develop their list before the next board meeting. He will send out brief email to board about this subject. Newsletter: Time to start working on fall newsletter. Dennis will send an email to board to get it underway. Possible topics: bighorn sheep die off, impacts of sequester, Mitchell Caverns update, President's corner. Board elections: We need to address this issue. Legally we should be following the bylaws (i.e. treasurer position). Probably need another couple of board members. Let's address this at October meeting. Board adjourned at 6:30pm. Next meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 17th at 5:30pm