Report from June 2, 2009, meeting of Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society

`Northwest Arkansas Audubon Society
June 2, 2009, 6pm
Henry Board Room, Fayetteville Public Library

Present: Sara Wittenberg, Joe Neal, Elizabeth and Doug James, Ann Paillet, Stephanie Cribbs, Joanne Patterson, Scott Michaud, Leigh Hunt

Minutes from April meeting were approved

Programs
Past Program numbers:
Field trip to Ninestone: 25
Field trip to Lake Fayetteville: 15
Clean-up at Wilson Springs: 20

Future Programs
Dates have not changed; see notes from previous meeting

David Nolan Photo Contest
The drop-off places include Collier Photography in Fayetteville and Bedford’s Photography in Fayetteville and Bentonville. There will be plans for approximately 100 entries and and entrance fee of $5 per photo. There will be 12 prizes: four categories with a first, second, and third place plus and honorable mention in each category. The deadline for entries is September 25th. Bedford has offered to mount and prepare the winning photos for display at the Shiloh Museum. Sally Jo Gibson will be consulted to help with advertisement and promotion of the contest.

Meetings
It was decided to drop future Bentonville meetings due to poor turnout. It was also decided that it would be beneficial to combine meetings with birding trips in the future.

Publications
Write-ups on field trips will be added to the newsletter as well as a Letter from the President; publication is due in August and will be emailed in its final form to Scott Michaud for the website.

Publicity
The NWAAS website is now out and looking BRILLIANT! There are currently nine web pages with additional ones to follow, including links to a birding list. It was decided to talk to Kimberly Smith about having the old website taken down.







Finances
Currently, NWAAS has approximately 3,800 in our checking account, 125 dollars on our tab at the Post Office,, and $13,000 in cash at Wachovia. We also have a new debit card and $13.53 a month will be deducted from our account to maintain the website. We should be receiving approximately $1620.25 from National Audubon as an annual
amount.

Tax status: It is necessary for organizations in good standing with the Secretary of State to file each year by May 15th to maintain that good standing and this can be done with a electronic postcard, the 990 Form. NWAAS has not filed in two years, so this will be looked into by Scott.

Donations
A $1000 check was written as a donation to the Morningstar rescue shelter after being unanimously approved

Education
Discussion was had on the Audubon Adventures packages, which are teaching tool kits made for the classroom and available for $20 per package; discussion was had on contacting Roy Fuller for email lists to help distribute these to area teachers who have shown interest. Discussion was also had on outreach to Gifted and Talent programs and home school programs in the area.

Book Publication
Joe Neal’s book The Birds of Northwest Arkansas is ready for publication; this will be done by a printer in town for somewhere between $6-8 dollars a copy at a cost of approximately $1600 for 250 copies. The cost is to be covered by NWAAS but should come back to the Society through sales of the book: it was decided that the price of the book should be double the cost of printing it, making the price between $12 and $16 dollars and books can be sold at local spots like Nightbird Books, Society events, and the Society booths at the Farmers Market when that it set up. The motion to cover publication costs was unanimously passed.

Next meeting is slated for August 4th at 6pm at the Henry Board Room