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Pocono Avian Research Center
Board of Directors Meeting July 20, 2014 1. Call to order 2. Accounts balanced at $10668.65 with $650 in accounts payable, and another $200 yet to be billed. 3. Director Report: Bluebird monitoring at Buck Hill Falls has begun. Volunteer Carol Klatt has been working with me all through the summer. Bluebirds are on their second clutch and the tree swallows have already finished nesting for the season. Anyone who would like to spend the day exploring nest boxes should give me a call. That invitation extends to any students we can generate from NCC and ESU. 4. Education Committee: Ongoing programs include beginner bird walks for the Barrett Friendly Community Center and the Tobyhanna State Park. Programs at the Pocono Manor and Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort are in the works throughout the summer. 5. Research Committee: Our intern for the summer is Melissa Shafer. Melissa is a student who has worked with us before. She is looking to gain additional experience in wildlife research as she begins looking for opportunities for graduate school. Melissa will be working on completing the MAPS manual started by Bekah last winter. We banded a Pileated Woodpecker at the MAPS station at Kettle Creek a few weeks ago. This picture has made big headlines around town, so here it is for you to see: https://www.facebook.com/NatureConservancyPA/photos/a.236489603062377.64928.225031627541508/796812817030050/?&theater 6. Grants Committee: We are actively searching for grant opportunities for this year and next. We have applied for the PA Environmental Council Award for Environmental Partnerships. 7. Audit Committee: I have begin working on the audited numbers for the first two quarters of 2014. They should be prepared by next month, and I will report on them at that time. Please send along any questions you may have about the budget. I will answer any concerns you may have. 8. New Business- Has anyone seen any great birds? 9. Meeting adjourned Thank you for all your support. Respectfully, Jackie Speicher
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AGENDA
Pocono Avian Research Center Board of Directors Meeting March 18, 2014 1. Call to order 2. Accounts balanced at $10443.94. 3. BOARD ACTION: Please see and approve attached budget. 4. BOARD ACTION: Please vote for the board to retain the following positions: Darryl Speicher president Jackie Speicher treasurer Lisa Schreffler secretary Mildred Bernstein board member John Leiser board member Diane Wong board member John Styk board member 5. Director Report: As I write this report, we are already three months into the New Year. I would like to thank everyone who supports us each year both in the field and at the dinner. Plan are underway for fundraising and social events in 2014 including the annual snipe hunt and a series of Barrett Township birding walks. I have e-mailed proposals to Shawnee and the Pocono Manor to provide educational programs and teambuilding events for their guests. This will provide additional revenue to the center, and allow us to extend our reach in the Poconos. The research center has also signed on as a presenter for the May Waterwaze Festival, and the Promised Land Eagle Watch. Bluebird monitoring is set to begin soon at Buck Hill Falls and in the Stroudsburg borough. Anyone who would like to spend the day exploring nest boxes should give me a call. That invitation extends to any students we can generate from NCC and ESU. I am grateful for all of your help and support as we enter our fourteenth year of research and education programs. (Thank you also for not giving me too much grief for the tardiness of this report.) 6. Education Committee: We have already been invited to do programs for Pocono Environmental Education Center and Barrett Friendly Community Center in 2014. 7. Research Committee: Feeder Fidelity banding has been on hold due to the weather. We will be reporting on our past findings later this spring. We are again involved in the bluebird nest box project. We do not have any interns lined up for the year so please pass on our information to any students who may be interested in bird banding this summer. More information about the BioBlitz this summer will be forthcoming as we receive it. 8. Grants Committee: We are actively searching for grant opportunities for this year and next. 9. Audit Committee: Last year’s budget is completed. Please take a look at our numbers. We had a surplus of $1372.03. We have been able to keep our expenses down, and bring in good grant and education income throughout the year. In 2013 we rented the office space for a few months and that cost us a few thousand dollars. Finally, it became apparent that the office was not necessary. We have moved back to the kitchen table indefinitely. I will be working on several projects and trying to connect with area businesses to extend our reach for education and research programs. We have also relinquished our land line phone number in favor of a cell phone. The only drawback is that we have no listing in the Yellow Pages. (I know what you’re asking…What is a yellow pages? That is exactly why I think this is a good move.) send along any questions you may have about the budget. I will answer any concerns you may have. 10. New Business 11.Meeting adjourned Thank you for all your support. Respectfully, Jackie Speicher AGENDA
Pocono Avian Research Center Board of Directors General Meeting December 14, 2013 Board meeting agenda
Jackie Speicher Director Board meeting 1. Call meeting to order by e-mail December 14, 2013 2. Financial records: Currently we have $ 10804.50 in the bank with no accounts payable or receivable in hand 3. Director’s Report: Another year has passed, and I am working on preparing for the annual dinner in January. Dinner will be on January 12, 2014 at 2 pm. We will be booked at the Stroudsmoor. Price $30 per person. I will be finishing the accounts and creating a budget sheet for us to vote on which will probably be sent out through the website for approval in early January (so keep your eyes out for it). We have done some great programs this year, and gained some interesting insight into the birds of the Poconos. Through grant opportunities we have acquired some excellent audio and camera equipment. If anyone wants to borrow the equipment: (trail camera, digital audio players and recorders, and cameras) let me know. It would be an asset if we could capture some images of the diversity of flora and fauna in the Poconos. 4. Research Update- I am swamped with data to enter and analyze from bluebirds to owls, so please let me know if you are available for a data entry day. I would like to publish our data on owl eye color in 2014. Let me know if you are interested. 5. Education Update – We have done a handful of education programs and walks this year. We are looking forward to booking more groups in 2014, starting with the New Years Hike for Brodhead Watershed Association (it is a fundraising effort for BWA). If you would like to join the BWA walk, call us to register. 6. Fundraising Update a. We are looking at new opportunities for 2014. I would like to schedule a sit-down meeting for this in early 2014. Let me know if you would like to participate. b. We have installed PayPal on the storefront page of the website. c. Please reach out to any potential donors (we still need to raise monies in small donations to offset Norcross). Invite them to the annual dinner, f just invite them to donate to PARC. We will send out thank you letters to all donors. 7. Web page – I think the site is growing. If you haven’t looked in a while, please take a look and send me your comments. Also, please explore the ‘storefront’ page and enter your donation. 8. New business 9. Discussion of birding opportunities and trips 10. Adjourn Respectfully, Jackie Speicher Director AGENDA
Pocono Avian Research Center Board of Directors Meeting January 31, 2013 1. Call to order 2. Accounts balanced at $9843.35 at the end of December. $ 365 Accounts receivable are due and no accounts payable are due at the end of December 2012. 3. BOARD ACTION: Please see and approve attached budget. 4. BOARD ACTION: Please vote for the board to retain the following positions: Darryl Speicher president Jackie Speicher treasurer Lisa Schreffler secretary Mildred Bernstein board member John Leiser board member Diane Wong board member John Styk board member 5. Director Report: (A) We will be actively looking for an office space to use this year. I hope to be in a place by the spring or summer. This will enable our interns to do more research, data entry and work on their own projects during their semester. (B) I ordered polo shirts with our name on them and they should be arriving in early February. I have attached the link to the design. I have also designed some t-shirts, but have not placed that order yet. (C) Take a look at the website and make your suggestions. I will be organizing the development of the training modules for MAPS. These will be uploaded onto the site before training this spring. 6. Education Committee: We have already been invited to do programs for Pocono Environmental Education Center and Brodhead Watershed Association in 2013. 7. Research Committee: Feeder Fidelity banding will begin in early January. We will also be involved in bluebird nest box project. Our intern for the spring is Kevin Boyle. He started with us in the fall 2012, but was unable to finish. He will be working with us all spring. 8. Grants Committee: An invasive species follow up grant will be submitted to Cora Brooks in January. We also submitted a grant to Norcross for audio and video equipment. A key item in the grant is a field camera for the banding projects. We should hear from Norcross at the end of their first quarter. We were approved for a donation from the 4Imprint company. They will be sending us an assortment of printed items for our birds and breakfast. We can use the items for fundraising or for giveaways. 9. Audit Committee: nothing to report 10. New Business 11.Meeting adjourned Thank you for all your support. Respectfully, Jackie Speicher Pocono Avian Research Center
Board of Directors Meeting – pre meeting notes October 20, 2012 Location: Northampton Community College MINUTES 1. Call to order at 10:31 a.m. Present: Darryl Speicher, Jackie Speicher, Mildred Bernstein, John Leiser, and Lisa Schreffler (via phone). Absent: Diane Wong, John Styk 2. Review minutes of the last meeting. Approve minutes: motion MB, second JL, all approve 3. Financial report: We have opened a new account at ESSA (in the new branch opened in Mountainhome) and plan to close the account at Keystone Community Bank by the end of the year. ESSA balance = $ 1879.72; Keystone Community Bank balance = $ 5835.32. There are $ 493 in deposits to be made, and Accounts receivable include invoices # 116,117,118,119,120 = $ 1200. Recent equipment purchase include: new CD player-$50, Compasses-$179.40. We should have someone audit the books. Motion to approve financial report: Motions MB, second JS, all approve. 4. Director’s Report: a. We continue to do well with the office at our house in Cresco. I am still on the lookout for a small office space that would be inexpensive to rent in order to facilitate meetings with interns and for possible expansion of the research center in the future. I will call on Mrs. Biles; she owns an empty house on RTE 390 near the Skytop entrance. Also, look into the Texter’s properties. b. The website has is the top referral site on the Delaware national Recreation Area website bird page. c. Visitors have been steady to the website and many of them are taking advantage of the comment forms within the site pages. This I a positive feedback to the site. I have been updating the home page monthly, and anyone who wants to write the cover letter to the visitors is welcome to e-mail me their information and I will put it on the page. d. Take a look at the new website and I would appreciate any feedback you could give. I have added a few new items. Anyone who wants to write the home page letter is welcome to. I have been updating the website each month. 5. Education report: Lots of public programs this summer/fall: ppl, project Owlnet, libraries, Lackawanna Environmental Institute, and lots of groups at Skytop. 6. Research report: a. Everyone should take a moment to look at the Owlnet manual we developed with the students at Northampton. John Leiser was able to get them printed at NCC, and we have been using them and handing them out all fall. They have been well received. This is a great tool for the banding season. We will look to adding more pictures to the manual and then uploading it onto the website as a pdf. b. Many thanks to Steven Kloiber for his help with the Cerulean Warbler surveys. We completed four surveys for the Kalamazoo Nature Center this summer. c. The Girl Scout bluebird project went well. Only one scout submitted data under the contact forms but that went well. I am contacting the troop leader soon to make arrangements to move the page off of password protection. d. Project Owlnet is beginning. We have two interns: Amanda Schwartz from University of PA and Kevin Boyle from ESU. We will also have lots of help from NCC students and old interns. Amanda is working on a project to define the Owlnet data in a descriptive paper which will also estimate owl populations. Kevin will determine his project in the next few weeks. e. MAPS interns Autumn Swan is still working on a paper about bird behavior in the net and at the banding station. We will submit it to a journal for comments before submitting to Northeast naturalist for publication. Amber was able to learn enough this summer to get her master’s bander permit so she may continue her research into the Black-capped chickadee. MAPS Data will be set to IBP and BBL this week. f. We have given sub-permits to Stephen Kloiber and Dan Zmoda and they have been very helpful with the owl banding this station this season. They are also a part of the feeder fidelity project we have begun in the winter. We need to look into finding and training more people to help out at the station. Perhaps we could advertise to train people through ORNJOBS. We need to locate funds to pay these trainees. 7. Fundraising report: a. We will begin to make plans for the annual dinner on January 6, 2013. Clear your calendars and invite many people to attend this wonderful buffet at the Stroudsmoor this is our biggest fundraiser all year, so we need to get the people out. I will get ticket prices out asap. b. We could develop a gift shop on the website with Jacob’s help. Presently this could contain Adopt-a-Bird certificates for the holidays, and maybe tee shirts. Jackie will look into T-shirt websites that allow us to order by the piece for a reasonable cost. 8. New business: a. Perhaps there is an opportunity to structure a field study class that could combine our contacts with the NCC and ESU faculty. This type of class needs to be transferrable to other universities. John Leiser will look into this possibility. b. FIVE YEAR PLAN. We need to develop a new five and ten year plan for the research center. Please feel free to use the comment board to send your ideas. I will ask for new ideas and begin to develop the plan at the next board meeting this winter. c. Social media: Bekah would like to begin work on a social network for the center using facebook. This is a good step and we could use more pictures and text about what we do in order to facilitate this networking. Mildred would be interested in also being an administrator on the page so she could add content. d. Grants: Norcross Wildlife Foundation-application for digital camera and sound equipment (Jackie will be sending this out next week). Cora L Brooks Foundation-studies along the waterways (John will look into this); EPA-continuation of the invasive study (John will look into this). Other grant sources could include PA American Waters grants and Clean & Green grants (Jackie will look into these). e. Board Members: it may be time to add new board members to the group. Please look into your contacts and see if anyone would be helpful for the organization. Be prepared to bring up a few names at the winter meeting. 9. Birds Pine Siskins have been very common this fall and early winter. Red Crossbills were sighted by captain Dan in the yard. This could be a great winter for birds. 10. Adjourn at 11:48 motion JL, second LS, all approve. 11. Next meeting will be Online format in December 2012. Thank you for all your support. Respectfully submitted, Jackie Speicher Pocono Avian Research Center
Board of Directors Meeting October 20, 2012 10:00 a.m. Location: Northampton Community College AGENDA 1. Call to order 2. Financial report 3. Director report 4. Education report 5. Research report 6. Fundraising report 7. Slate of officers 8. New business 9. Adjourn Pocono Avian Research Center Board of Directors Meeting – pre meeting notes October 20, 2012 Location: Northampton Community College 1. Call to order 2. Financial report: We have opened a new account at ESSA ( in the new branch opened in Mountainhome) and plan to close the account at Keystone Community Bank by the end of the year. ESSA balance = $ 1904.88; Keystone Community Bank balance = $ 5835.32. There are $ 348 in deposits to be made, and Accounts receivable = $ 450. Accounts payable = $ 25.16 to Verizon. 3. Director’s Report: a) we continue to do well with the office at our house in Cresco. Overhead is low (telephone bill only), and we have been able to save some monies for future equipment needs. I am still on the lookout for a small office space that would be inexpensive to rent in order to facilitate meetings with interns and for possible expansion of the research center in the future. While I have no plans to move this year, I am still keeping an eye out. I would appreciate any help you can give on this endeavor. B) Take a look at the new website and I would appreciate any feedback you could give. I have added a few new items. Anyone who wants to write the home page letter is welcome to. I have been updating the website each month. 4. Education report: We are still doing lots of public programs. This has been our main source of funding this summer. 5. Research report: A) Many thanks to Steven Kloiber for his help with the Cerulean Warbler surveys. B) The Girl Scout bluebird project went well. Only one scout submitted data under the contact forms but that went well. I am contacting the troop leader soon to make arrangements to move the page off of password protection. C) MAPS went well. We will report on number of birds and data capture at the meeting. D) Project Owlnet is beginning with a quiet rainy week. We have two interns: Amanda and Kevin. We will also have lots of help from NCC students and old interns. E) We will give an update on the summer interns and their projects at the meeting. F) We will give an update on the newly printed Banders Manual!! 6. Fundraising report:?? 7. SLATE OF OFFICERS FOR 2013: Darryl Speicher president Jackie Speicher treasurer Lisa Schreffler secretary Mildred Bernstein board member John Leiser board member Diane Wong board member John Styk board member 8. New business: Do you have anything new to add?? 9. Adjourn Thank you for all your support. Respectfully, Jackie Speicher Pocono Avian Research Center
Board of Directors Meeting June 3, 2012 Location: online MINUTES 1. Call to order by e-mail. Present Jackie Speicher, Darryl Speicher, John Leiser, Mildred Bernstein. Absent: John Styk, Lisa Schreffler, Diane Wong 2. Financial Report: Approved 3. Director’s Report: A) Cresco office: John will continue to help us look for a space, but he can provide space at NCC as needed. B) Everyone is in favor of a meeting in July. We will try to schedule it C) Everyone is happy with the new website. Thank You to Jacob for all his hard work!! 4. Education report: John presented information about the Invasive Study to the Lehigh Valley Ecology and Evolution Symposium in April 2012. 5. Research report: A) the Girl Scout nest box project has been going well. Online data entry should be exciting. 6. Fundraising report: All are in favor of a pre-paid birds and breakfast. We will need to iron out the logistics. 7. Action: vote for officers Officers are approved by a vote of 4-0. 8. New business: We have contracted with the Kalamazoo Nature Center to do four Cerulean Warbler Surveys this summer. 9. Adjourn Thank you for all your support. Respectfully, Jackie Speicher Pocono Avian Research Center
Board of Directors Meeting June 3, 2012 Location: online AGENDA Call to order Financial report Director report Education report Research report Fundraising report Action: vote for officers New business Adjourn Pocono Avian Research Center Board of Directors Meeting June 3, 2012 Location: online Call to order Accounts balanced at $5467.21. Accounts receivable = $365 are due. Director’s Report: a) we continue to do well with the office at our house in Cresco. Overhead is low (telephone bill only), and we have been able to save some monies for future equipment needs. I am still on the lookout for a small office space that would be inexpensive to rent in order to facilitate meetings with interns and for possible expansion of the research center in the future. While I have no plans to move this year, I am still keeping an eye out. I would appreciate any help you can give on this endeavor. B) I would like to schedule a meeting this summer (at the end of July??) with everyone in attendance. It would be good to sit down together and discuss a plan for the next three to five years. This plan would take us well into our second decade and set some goals for the future. C) Jacob has been creating the new website. He has formatted the pages, the galleries, the blogs, and he is responsible for all of the detail work you see here. I would appreciate any feedback you could give. Education report; we have been busy with programs at Skytop this spring. We also scheduled some programs for PPL (stargazing and storytelling), the Monroe County libraries summer reading programs, and the Barrett Friendly Library. We also were requested by the Barrett Earth Day Celebration this past April. Darryl was the leader for the warbler weekend at PEEC and the group had an amazing time. Let me know if you have done any programs for PARC, or know of any organizations that could be interested in having PARC at their place. Research report: A) this spring we became involved in a Girl Scout bronze award project. The project consisted of building bluebird boxes and they will be placed in the Paradise Township parks this week. The GS leaders now need us to extend the scope of the project to include some monitoring and research and community service. In order to help, Jake created a web page under RESEARCH-bluebird nest box project. It is password protected and the scouts will be able to access it using the same password you use for this site ‘bluebird.’ This is our first foray into electronic submission of data. Let’s see how it goes. B) MAPS is begun. We banded for period four at Kettle Creek this week and captured a yellow-bellied flycatcher, Swainson’s thrush, catbirds, cardinal and a chickadee. A good start. The intern for this summer is Autumn Swan, a graduate student looking for more experience in field work before continuing on with her field of study. We also are getting help from Lehigh University Professor Amber Rice and several of her students and colleagues. She needs training on mist nets, handling birds, and Pyle guide for a project she wants to begin next spring. We are training her group, and her students (until they leave for home in late June) and she is providing a lot of good assistance. PARC has offered to purchase waterproof boots for all volunteers for use during the summer research season. Let me know when you want to come out for banding. I have uploaded the schedule below. Fundraising report: We are thinking about a Birds and Breakfast in the fall. The format would include a prepaid participant. The group would meet for a morning of birding in select Monroe County locations, and then the group would go to a diner where we have arranged for the meal. I have yet to do the math to see how many people we would need to make money, what do you think?? Action: vote for officers Please vote for the board to retain the following positions: Darryl Speicher president Jackie Speicher treasurer Lisa Schreffler secretary Mildred Bernstein board member John Leiser board member Diane Wong board member John Styk board member New business: Do you have anything new to add?? Adjourn Thank you for all your support. Respectfully,Jackie Speicher |
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