Western Division of the American Fisheries Society
EXCOM Meeting Minutes
Date: August 19, 2001
Phoenix, Arizona

President Bill Bradshaw opened the meeting at 3 PM. It was determined that a quorum was present. The minutes of the 2000 EXCOM meeting were reviewed and accepted.

Chapter Reports:

Alaska – President Carol Ann Woody - The Chapter's progress on the “Key to Fishes of Alaska” book project nearly ready for publication.  A Cultural Diversity Award was made to several people to cover their costs to attend the Annual meeting. The chapter continues its Mentorship Program to sponsor young people and currently have 8 students sponsored. The Chapter membership increased by 10% this year. We had a strong Annual Meeting in Fairbanks in November with freshwater and marine sessions. Almost 200 attended.

North Pacific International – President Bill Mavros – The Chapter annual meeting is Oct. 12, in conjunction with the Victoria, BC PISCES Annual Meeting that has a marine biology emphasis. Formed a Seattle area subunit. It now needs to be ratified by the parent Society. About 40 students have been involved. The Chapter agreed to have joint meeting with WDAFS in 2002 in Spokane.  The Chapter has been struggling to hold a meeting every year. This year's meeting was postponed 6 months. Having a meeting every year would be good.

CAL/NEVA – President Larry Brown - Annual Meeting was successful (with Humboldt Chapter). For Chapter conservation work, three people were assigned to coho advisory panel.  Membership has stayed about the same.  The Davis subunit has been working to build membership.

Colorado-Wyoming – President Rob Gipson - Used proceeds from two elk permit raffles to set up scholarship fund and got $15k. The $15K will be used to start scholarships at the university of Wyoming and Colorado State University.  The Chapter also contributed about $7K of the proceeds from the Telluride meeting. Distributed three $1,000 scholarships.

Oregon - Proxy Bob Hughes -- The Chapter held a joint meeting with Wildlife Society that brought 900 people to meeting.  There were joint and special sessions.  The Chapter co-sponsored the Conference on Nutrients in the Salmonid Ecosystem – 400 people attended. The Chapter has been active on Snake River Dams, and commented on NMFS' Biological Opinion. Held a mentoring session – to exchange ideas among students and mentors.  The Chapter has a lobbiest. We produced a white paper on hatcheries and it was presented before a legislative session. Oregon was co-winner with Missouri on the Society's Chapter of Year Award.

Idaho – Proxy Steven Elle – The Chapter held its annual Meeting in Boise – genetic procedures and fish management.  Sponsoring a road tour into the headwaters of Snake River, above the dams, for legislature.  Idaho has a very active student subunit.

Humboldt – President Mary Knapp -  The Chapter has been involved in Conservation issues – Klamath River water shortage and hydro management, review of draft conservation program.  Created a committee to review the HCP for Freshwater Creek drainage.  In September the Chapter will conduct its annual Tuna Mixer as a traditional membership drive.

Bonneville- President Jeff Kershner - Joint meeting to focus on Utah water plan. The Chapter took a stance on the testing of drugs for use in wildlife. The student subunit was reorganized. The chapter created a series of educational materials to take to schools. Continued participation in the competitive grant program.

Committee Reports  (full 2001 committee reports are posted on the web) -

Audit – Lou Carufel and Phyllis Weber conducted the WDAFS audit  on August 6, 2001. They reported that WDAFS financial accounts are in good order but they made a number of recommendations for improvement.

Nominating - Ken Hashagen reported that he received 240 mail ballots (that's an approximate 6.5% voter turnout). The candidates were Tom McMahon and Ed Cheslak  for Vice President, Monica Hiner and Chuck McAda for Secretary/Treasurer, and Henry Booke for WDAFS Nominating Representative. The winners were to be announced at the annual business meeting.

Policy Review – Dennis Tol and his committee reviewed the Division's written products on the Columbia River NMFS' Biological Opinion and the final report of the Bulltrout Committee, with reference to the Division's advocacy guidelines. The Committee found all materials to be within the bounds of the advocacy guidelines.

Program for Annual Meeting – The WDAFS Program for this year's meeting being combined with the Parent Society here in Phoenix. Eric Knudsen represents WDAFS on the Program Committee. Eric summarized the features of the meeting that highlight or facilitate the Division. The parent AFS Governing Board approved a motion that, because we are co-convening with the parent Society, the Western Division will get 6% of the proceeds from the 2001 annual meeting in Phoenix.  Discussion ensued about the Governing Board making a declaration for fiscal support at next WDAFS/parent Society joint meeting in 2005.

Time and Place – Committee Chair Dave Lentz made good progress on the membership survey which essentially found that most members support holding the meeting in months other than summer. The survey results were summarized (see report on web site). The Committee (Dave) is working on a WDAFS calendar and will get info from chapters to put on meeting calendar for WD. Allen Bingham noted that the Alaska Chapter has a calendar of all North Pacific fisheries meeting that may be useful.

The 2002 WD annual meeting will be held jointly with NPIC and the Transboundary Group in Spokane, WA, April 27- May 1, 2002. CAL/NEVA just decided affirmatively to co-convene their annual meeting in 2003 with WD. All seem to be in favor of a coastal theme and location, but there is still concern about exactly where and when – Ventura, Monterey, and San Diego have been mentioned. Organizers from CAL-NEVA will be contacted by Dave.  Apparently there is continuing interest from WAFWA to co-convene, but no specific plans (their schedule is rigid by state and they are committed to mid-July which does not correspond to our recent survey results).

Membership – Don MacDonald reported on four membership Committee activities 1) coordinate membership between chapters 2) tracked retention through grants, mentorship program 3) recruit new members in marine fisheries 4) recruit new Canadian members, especially if WD jointly convenes with World Fisheries Congress in 2004.

Eugene Maughan Scholarship - Bob Greswell is Committee chair. There were 25 applications this year; 13 master's, 12 PhD's

Four scholarships were awarded this year for $750 each. The names were not announced until the Business Meeting, but there were two Master's Candidates (University of Idaho and University of Washington) and two Ph.D. Candidates (University of Alaska and University of Idaho).  There was clearly more participation from some chapters than others in recruiting nominees. Talk to the chapters about getting good participation from all chapters.

World Fisheries Congress – Bruce Ward and Dana Schmidt addressed The EXCOM about the WFC, to be held in May [1^st week] 2004 in Vancouver, BC. Most significant fisheries meeting in the world with 2-3000 participants expected. Some response that WD may want to co-convene but discussion on that was postponed.

Environmental Concerns - Bob Wunderlich is currently the chair of this Committee. Committee members reviewed NMFS' draft Biological Opinion on Columbia River salmon and provided written comments to NMFS.

Archivist – Venice Beske is currently the WD Archivist. She is going through all the WD files to save important things and discard the rest. She needs help identifying a permanent repository for the WDAFS archives.

AFS Certification Appeals – Bill Bradshaw filled this position this year; there were no appeals this year.

Awards/Nominations – Ken Hashagen reported the following award nominees/winners:

Newsletter – Eric reported that Paul Evans has done a great job for three years but that he has indicated a need to step down. Therefore a new editor is needed. Have printed announcements that will be posted and distributed at the business meeting.

Bull trout - Shelly Spalding reported there are 40-50 members on the Committee. Shelly coordinated a meeting and review of the draft protocol for BT abundance and occurrence. Provided draft in January – WDAFS EXCOM and Policy Review Committee reviewed the protocol. The Committee will now incorporate edits and publish in Fisheries.

2000-2001 Budget Report – (The budget was reviewed prior to reviewing the grants proposals so that the EXCOM would know the fiscal health of the WD prior to making decisions). Ed Cheslak reported that the 2000-2001 fiscal year WD annual budget ended up at plus $9,469. See attached budget submitted by Secretary Cheslak.

Grants Funding Committee – Bill Bradshaw led discussion. He described a proposal for a Grants Funding Endowment set up to establish ongoing grant funding. In short, the proposal will move $50k from WD savings to an investment fund. The target total in the investment fund is $100k. The proceeds from the investment fund will be used for the annual grants funding program, rather than funds from the Division's annual revenue stream. (See the full proposal). There was a motion to adopt the proposal, as published in tributary, by Ed Cheslak and Ken Hashagen seconded it.

Discussion followed:

Ken's brother-in-law is a grants solicitation specialist and is reviewing a WD letter/process

• ad hoc Grant funding committee may need to develop strict guidelines

• WD has guidelines, but they may need to be tightened up

• Web page, what has been funded

• Should scholarship fall in this too, i.e. do we need tighter guidelines?

• Need to publicize information identifying how decision is made

A member moved to amend this proposal to add criteria – 2^nd Bob Hughes

Amend to develop criteria of evaluating proposals and identify area of emphasis for use of these grant funds. Eric Knudsen commented that it was his intent, as incoming President,  to reform the Grants Funding Committee and charge the committee with forming three subcommittees for addressing 1) funds solicitation 2) grant funding criteria and 3) an investment strategy.

Question called – approved. Approved motion for amendment passed. The subsequent vote to put the proposal before the full membership was unanimous.

Motion to accept committee reports voted on and approved.

New Business

2001-2002 Proposed Budget – Eric Knudsen presented a proposed budget with a $5000 net gain. It was suggested and agreed that discussion of the budget be tabled to follow discussion of the grants to be funded this year.

2001-2002 Grants Funding - The following grant proposals were presented by President Bradshaw for funding from the $10,000 FY 2001-2001 proposed budget. They were each discussed and decisions were made as indicated below.

This leaves $1,200 to be dispersed at a later date in 2001-2002.

2001-2001 Budget - back on table. Following discussion, the proposed budget was amended to add a $5000 line item to support the Sustainability Symposium, with a remaining net gain for the total annual budget of less than $1000. Motion to approve the budget carried. (See attached 2001-2002 budget.)

President Bradshaw asked if there were Chapter issues or concerns, but none were raised. Motion approved to have Chapter reports accepted as submitted.

Meeting adjourned 8:00 PM.