Executive Officers & Board Members Present:

Lisa Delissio, President
Charles Chester - Vice President
Lelia C. Orrell, Secretary
Jim Crisp, Treasurer
Elizabeth Farnsworth - Programs
Robert Buchsbaum - NGO
Jose Delissio - Consultant

Lisa called the meeting to order

1. Approved Meeting Minutes for October 26, 2000

2. Lelia gave the Secretary’s report:

• Membership
• Outreach: 480 on email list

3. Discussion about listservers that Charlie was creating:

1. board list --unmoderated
2. full memberlist – unmoderated
3. Privacy issues, spamming and universal reply.

• Conservation perspectives
  • print friendly for non-frame (pdf format should be made available)
  • frame for viewing

• Site usage statistics
• Handling of requests from high school students and others made to the webmaster.Possibilities included:

• Automated response from listserver
• Panel of experts
• responsibility to reach out to h.s. and grammar school students

• electronic mentoring
• suggested we reach out to science teachers.

5. Discussion of Identity and Direction of MassSCB

• Developing our identity
• Logo, business card
• Jose volunteered to work on this and posters
• Where do we go from here?
• What to communicate with identity?
• Mockup before next meeting

6. Financial report by Jim Crisp

• He will send out a balance sheet for review.
• PayPal working great.
• Proposal: Help with funding Conservation Perspective?
  • mailings
  • print versions
  • photos
  • hosting fees
  • create a Junior Conservation Perspective.

7. Vice Presidents report by Charlie:

• Advocacy
• 501(h) status --do we choose it?
• Science Advisory Resource.
• policy, science
• discussed collaboration.
• Communication Workshop
  • a media and science workshop
  • Nature writers conference to be held a Aquarium – possible collaboration?
• With regard to advocacy, the relative merits of email vs. faxes and letters vs. phone calls.
• Discussion on how to encourage membership or email list to make their opinions known
• Follow through with panel of experts/scientists who are asked to make comments on particular issues, so that they are told the results of their efforts.
• Potential areas to be involved in:
  • Summer (late July) MBL project for science writers
  • Biodiversity day/week June 8-10. Sponsered by EOEA.
  • IBOYM – International Biodiversity Observation Year
  • Members at large: How do we involve them more.
  • Brown bag sessions:
    • Western MA in on these sessions.
    • Wildflower Society Research needed.
    • Global -‡ local & Academic ‡ non-academic
    • Tom Kunz (world) ‡ Tom French (MA) re: bats
      • Cash for drinks/ refreshments
      • Poster for brown bags
    • Possible brown bags:
      • Aquaculture Center at Salem State
      • Seahorse conservation
      • Cohost at the email and website level

8. Committee reports

• Education: no action
• Discussion on committees vs. projects
• On web site:
  • Combine conservation/advocacy committees
  • Leave careers and education but change order to projects then committees.
• Discussion on including member-at-large as a board member with the four officers as the executive board.
  • VOTE TAKEN: ?Members-at-large will be called Board Members, and the four officers are to be called the Executive Board. The members-at-large categories to be called Board Members include media, non-profit, government, education, student (undergraduate), and legal representatives. - Unanimous

Meeting adjourned.