AGM
Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists
Submitted by Pauline Donaldson
June 9, 2005
MVFN celebrate many successes at 2005 Annual General Meeting
The 2005 Annual General Meeting of the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists (MVFN) was held in May at Union Hall. President Michael MacPherson welcomed attendees after a short reception. Events and reports were presented, recently elected treasurer Elizabeth Dunning presented the annual financial report and elections were made to three newly created Board of Directors positions.
Pauline Donaldson, Almonte, takes on the role of Public Relations Chair, Cathe Baker, Ramsay, will chair the Membership Committee and Paul Egginton, Ramsay, joins the BOD as Member at Large. Brenda Boyd, Almonte, will be MVFN’s new representative to Ontario Nature, replacing Pip Winters. Other officers of the BOD who were re-elected included President, Michael Macpherson; Vice President and Environmental Issues Chair Michael McPhail; Program Chair, Tine Kuiper; Educational Programs chair, Janine deSalaberry; all from Ramsay and Stewardship Council Rep. Franziska Von Rosen and Natural Resources Issues Chair Dr. Jim Bendell, both from Lanark Highlands.
Retiring Treasurer Reiner Hollbach and MVFN representative to FON, Pip Winters, were thanked for their work on behalf of MVFN.
The successful Environmental Education Projects Program (EEPP) was one highlight of the information part of the evening which members are clearly proud of. The program speaks for itself, but in summing it up, EEPP Chair Janine De Salaberry noted that all of the Ontario Trillium Foundation funding allocated for the project this year was spent as were additional amounts from fundraisers such as the Gray Jay Gala. In all, over 1600 local schoolchildren have taken part in one of these programs such as “Birds of Prey” presented by the Canadian Raptor Conservancy. The evening ended with refreshments and at that time members were able to view thank you ‘posters’ made by children from several local schools where EEPP programs took place.
Reporting on other significant milestones was MVFN member Cliff Bennett. After 3 years work on the steering committee for the Mississippi Mills Community Official Plan representing MVFN, Cliff was very pleased to report that most of MVFN’s recommendations made it into the Council draft. Cliff also stated that the 5-year project on a square for the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas is now complete.
Members received reports of Chairs of other committees including Jim Bendell reporting as Natural Resources Issues Chair. Jim outlined various activities including the committee’s role in gaining recognition in the Species at Risk Act for the local red wolf population. Program Chair Tine Kuiper reviewed the topics and speakers for presentations, which occurred during this year’s seminar program. This highly successful series was unique in offering a set of presentations linked by the biodiversity theme.
During the second part of the evening Bill Pratt of Parks Canada presented his enchanting sound and slide shows of nature photos. Bill began with the provocative question to the audience – what type of Canadian landscape do you have personal connections with? He reminded us how the natural environment in Canada can draw us together as a country. Read story.
