The
December 14, 2013 board meeting of the Friends of Sandhill was called
to order by Vice President
Dick Dubiel at
10:10(?). Those attending the meeting included Neal Paisley, Dick
Dubiel, Vicki Palen,
Nancy Peterson,
Clara Kubisiak, Sri Kasturirangan, Mike Wipfli and guests Valarie and
David Rheinschmidt.
Minutes
of the March meeting and subsequent activities were highlighted by
Vicki. They were approved. The treasurer’s report was read and
approved. The balance in the treasury as of March 14, 2013 is
$2,354.55 after the $54 is paid to Vicki to reimburse her for using
her credit card to pay for our charitable organization license
renewal.
OLD BUSINESS
Kiosk:
Those
present visited the site of the new Trumpeter Trail/Sandhill
information kiosk with Reed Romans, the builder, who explained his
plans for the roof and walls of the kiosk and materials that could be
used. Depending on the cost of the materials, the facing of the back
of the walls and any exposed wall on the front will be a grooved
plywood which would resemble vertical boards. The inside will
probably have three glass/plexiglass/? doors protecting cork-covered
bulletin boards for posting notices and other information. We will
probably still have some sort of sign-in desk and an improved holder
for our handouts and trail guides. The roof will have an overhang
plus a rustic-looking front roof support so there should be good
protection for people using the kiosk and for the pamphlets and
registration book.
When
the meeting was reconvened inside, it was decided that Friends of
Sandhill will pay for the concrete slab for the kiosk at a cost of
$1740.00. The remainder will be paid out of the Sandhill Gift Fund.
John Kubisiak will apply for an Incourage Community Foundation grant.
A total cost for the building (not including the doors and storage
devices) is estimated at $3,212.
Driving Tour and
guide changes:
The
Trumpeter Trail driving tour information sheet and map need to be
brought up to date. Questions
were asked regarding
new signs and type of signs. Neal would like to have signs showing
the goals of good
management of the
area for the public to read. A meeting of the Sandhill staff will be
held on January 6, 2014 to discuss ideas. At the next FOS Board
meeting we could probably get into specifics of the stops for the
guide.
Vicki
mentioned some ideas that she and Norma had regarding the new guide.
She also said that she was planning that FOS would undertake to edit
the new trail guide but that some information would probably have to
be written by Sandhill Staff (e.g. forestry info). Mention was made
of the possibility of having some permanent or semi-permanent signs
at some of the logging areas since that would allow more information
than would fit in the tour guide. The parking area by the north side
of Quail Point, just before the dike, was mentioned specifically
since there is a new logged area and an older one on opposite sides
of the road.
After
discussion about highlighting berry picking as an event at Sandhill,
it was decided that, while this is an allowed activity, we probably
don't want to promote this since it might attract people who came to
Sandhill for no other reason than to stock their larders.
The
Sandhill Open house will have a bird theme and Vicki mentioned that
Norma suggested emphasizing bird activities that are occurring at
that time, like migration and mating dances. Norma had suggested
trying to find short films of bird “dances” like cranes,
woodcocks, snipe and prairie chickens. Dick suggested the UWSP
library would be able to help.
Clara said
that Stephanie Haka could do a presentation on owls or on migrating
birds. It was decided that the migrating birds would fit in with the
time of year. Also, Clara will see if she can get Greg Dahl to
demonstrate bird banding as he did one year.
Clara said
she will promote the open house in April at the Lincoln High School
Fieldhouse event. Stephanie, or someone else, could organize an
active game pointing out the difficulties of bird migration. Dr.
Kent Hall could possibly suggest a student presenter from UWSP.
Other
ideas included making pine cone feeders, building bird houses, and
oriole feeders. Home Depot
or Menards might
provide materials for bird houses, but since we sell birdhouses at
our store we probably would not want building them to be an activity
for attendants.
Website:
The Friends
of Sandhill website is up and running, but needs some adjustments so
that the photo album will show up and Vicki needs some training so
that she can add and change info on the site. The web site is
friendsofsandhill.com
NEW BUSINESS
Report from
Neal:
Neal reported that
the bird list is ready for the layout person thanks to the help of
Jon Robaidek, who added to, deleted and changed information on a list
of the many bird species that might be seen at Sandhill. Clara will
ask Jen, the layout person, to prepare the booklet for printing. It
was suggested that the booklet encourage people to recycle it by
depositing it in the same box where the Trumpeter Trail guides are
left at the end of the drive by the exit gate.
Neal
also asked the board to look at items ready for disposal from the
west pole shed to see what could be sold at the rummage sale or open
house. This was done by 3 members after the meeting was adjourned.
Friends of
Necedah:
Vicki
will try to arrange a get-together with the Necedah Wildlife area
Friends group, if they are interested.
New fund
raising ides:
New
ideas included asking cranberry growers or Ocean Spray for donations,
but most thought it should be done in conjunction with a project,
such as the proposed new shelter behind the Skills Center, since most
grants are awarded for specific projects. (Ocean Spray requires that
the project be in an area where they have growers [Babcock!] and that
it encourages outdoor activities.)
Rich will
ask the Samoset Council of the Boy Scouts if they have anyone who
might be interested in doing trail work or other projects at
Sandhill. Clara will ask a large 4-H club if they have any interest
In trail or other work.
There was an interesting discussion on new ideas, such as a
hayride at the open house, cooperating with the local Indians on
crafts or sponsoring a craft fair, a photography workshop, a raffle,
an art project day or other short events that Norma and Vicki had
hoped to do last summer. New members were told about some previous
projects and ideas that we had tried. The previous Eagle Scout
projects were mentioned since that was a proposed idea for getting
things done at Sandhill.
It was
evident that the existence of FOS is not very well known , even in
the local area, since the Rheinschmidts are from Warrens and had only
heard of it through Sri, who invited them to the meeting.
The next
meeting will take place on March 15, 2014.
The
meeting was adjourned at approximately 12:15 pm and those Board
members who could stay looked over the items from the shed with Neal.
