BULLETIN No. 1
February 21, 1999
In this bulletin -
General Meeting Jan 24, 99 minutes
Board Meeting Feb 11, 99 minutes
Email from Joanna Duy
General Meeting Mar 28, 99, 1-5 pm, Swallow's Nest
Nova Scotia Plant Savers General Meeting
These minutes taken by Lorelei...
January 24th, 1999 1-5 pm
Swallow's Nest, Starr's Point (near Wolfville)
Approximately 20 people attended.
Agenda
-reports by steering committee
-updates
-discussion/formation of committees
-discussion/formation of directors
Information Gathered By Steering Committee (Lois, David, Cheendana)
1) U.S Plant savers: Approx. 1,000 members, literature formed and available.
2) Atlantic Canadian United Plant Savers:
- Cheendana has already been in contact with other provinces (New Brunswick) and the U.S group
- Canadian member can attend a U.S meeting
- finances - there is $250.00
Recommended by steering committee:
- This United Plant Savers meeting be an Atlantic division with perhaps different participating chapters.
- Register as a non-profit entity
- Membership fees- sliding scale $15, $30 and $50 This fee will cover basic needs (US ups newsletter)and fund projects
Discussion On These Recommendations
Membership fees:
50% of Canadian fees will go the U.S United Plant Savers. It was
mentioned that this money will be to cover the newsletter costs. David
suggested that the newsletter they produce is of good quality and that
until we are in a postion to produce a newsletter it may be a beneficial
to get it from this already organised United Plant Savers with the
intention of discontinuing this when our resources and energy have
grown. A few people offered alternatives:
- pay a membership fee with the option of buying the newsletter seperate
from this fee.
It was added that donations would stay in Canada.
Decision-making:
Discussed consensus and definition of this process
- Agree to disagree
- contrary views well aired, without getting bogged down in this process
- time allowed for this consensus process
- if the topic goes forward everyone agrees to go forward ( not necessarily agreeing with decision)
- concentrating on the groups higher good
Goals of Atlantic United Plant Savers:
- Our Vision was read out of the brouchure produced by the U.S Plant Savers
- The Atlantic Plant Savers basically has a similar mission statement to the U.S Plant Savers
United Plant Savers' mission is to protect and propagate at risk native medicinal plants of North America. We recognize that environmentally responsible cultivation, land stewardship, habitat protection and sustainable wild harvesting are critical imprtance to ensurre an abundant renewable supply of medicianal plants for future generations. (taken from Our Commitment in the Ups brochure)
Newsletter:
- quarterly from U.S
- a page or two can be given to Jodi Delong from the Organic times
- 50% of membership fees go to the U.S- this can change
- Suggestion given that we think of it as an organization that has developed ideas that we can borrow until we're organized
Recommendations made by steering committee was agreed upon by consensus
Updates
1) Cheendana did a radio interview- this went out to morning shows across Canada. She received a phone call from an interested man in Vancouver
2) Cheendana and Somananda went to a presentation in Bear river. There was a suggestion to invite Ginni Proulx and Laurie Lacey to our general meeting.
3) Cheendana, Lorraine, Prasado and Somananda went a NS Nature Trust presentation at a Blomidon Naturalists Soceity meeting. There was a suggesstion to have someone from NS Nature trust do a presentation for Nova Scotia Plant Savers.
4) Akwasane Reservation in Upper New York state and Ontario: Cheendana presented this as a replanting project. This would happen in May or June. There was an invitation to members to work on this.
PRESENTATION: Dr. Robin Taylor, Assistant professor in the Biology Dept at Hollins University, Virginia, gave a an excellent slideshow and talk on Ethnobotany in Nepal.
PERFORMANCE: Improvised Creative Plant Dance by Nancy Sherwood COMMITTEES:
- chairperson needed for each - this person would sit on the board meeting
- ideas formaulated within the committees decided upon and brought to the general meeting
- these committees are flexible and movable
1) Education ( meeting set for Mar 20)
Somananda - website and computer stuff 538-8544
Alexander - school projects, slide shows 455-8750 samcell@web.net
Jodi Delong 582-3443 delong@fox.nstn.ca
Prasado 538-7277
Camaria 542-9516
Pamela 679-6451
Lois Hare (schools) 538-3082
Michel Palmer 825-3954
Ina Snip 678-6516
Loraine 542-4146
2) Projects ( meeting set for March 20)
Awkwasane Reservation Project
Cheendana 538-8544
Lois 538-3082
Camaria 542-9516
Linda 542-2795
Lorelei/Nancy 429-0787
Linda Fuller Inventory, hands on, planting etc.
Alexander - anything hands on 455-8750
Somananda Inventory
Sonja inventory 678- 4439]
Prasado 538-7899
Graham 582-7273
Camaria hands on 542-9516
Pam 678-9457
Michel 825-3954
Loraine 542-4146
3) Government Relations
Somananda research 538-8544
Joanna Duy - finding out who to contact, what's to be done etc. 542-1551 duyem@agr.ca
4) Membership/ fundraising ( meeting set for Feb. 20)
Lorelei/Nancy 429-0787
Kirstie 757-2004 ph 757-2298 fax
COLDS/FLU DISCUSSION
NEXT MEETING SET FOR MARCH 28TH AT SWALLOW NEST
BOARD OF DIRECTORS ( Meeting date: February 11, 1999)
Function:
- co-ordination between the committees
- meet 2-3 times a year ( maybe more at the beginning of us
Getting organized:
- Board members from areas of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton
- set up chapters
- rotating of Board members
Board Members: David Slabotsky, Cheendana (Lorie-Ann Martin), Nancy Sherwood, Somananda (Jim King), Joanna Duy, Michel Palmer, Lorraine Johnson, Camaria Webber, Brian Van Rooyen, Lois Hare
Board Meeting Feb 11, 99
(Minutes transcribed Feb 20, 99 by Cheendana)
In Attendance... Camaria Webber, Loraine Johnson, Nancy Sherwood, Brian Van Rooyen, Lois Hare, Cheendana(Lorie-Ann Martin), David Slabotsky, Michel Palmer, Somananda(Jim King) Regrets... Joanna Duy (please see her email enclosed at the end of these minutes)
Agenda
1. Secretary definition - Cheendana who will take minutes during Board meetings. Somananda will edit and e-mail and post minutes to Board members. We may have access to Lois's Lab top computer for future meetings as well as this meeting. Loraine took on the task of typing in these minutes during the meeting - with additions from Cheendana as she wrote long hand. Good work team !!!
David will be treasurer who will take care of money and keep the books. The rest of the Board agreed that we will be co-directors. Signing officers will be David Slabotsky, Camaria and Loraine. Our banking address will be David's.
Registration signed by all members. Memorandum of Association signed - Thank you David for getting these papers and organizing the board members to sign them!
We agreed to use the phone number of Cheendana and Somananda as a public contact number for the public who want more information. The number is 902-702-0225. The calls that would come in would be redirected accordingly. The mailing address at this point is... 1199 Russia Road, RR3 Waterville, NS BOP 1VO. The web address for NSPS is http://www.oshogardens.com/nsps (it is our own site developed by Somananda and input is welcomed. There are some good links to the main UPS site, Blomidon Naturalists, and more...)
2. Article for Organic Times - Lois and Brian will adapt article from Rosemary Gladstars "Replanting the Future" article by Monday. Somananda will forward the article to Peggy Hope- Simpson. (Indeed this has been done at the writing of these minutes and Lois and Brian did a great job. Look for it in the Organic Times)
3. Agenda for next meeting, March 28 at Swallows Nest 1-5pm (thanks for donating your space Loraine!)
Print agenda on flip chart at beginning of meeting. Membership fees to be collected by David. David will do up a form to keep track of our members and dues $15, $30, and $50 at the door. Donations also accepted. Cheendana will order 50 copies of the UPS newsletter from the main office in Vermont to have at hand and to be given out to paid up members.
Suggestions for topics of discussion and agenda items... Y2K by Nancy, Laurie Lacey, Juliet Barcely-Levys Video (Theresa Maclean has a copy), Nova Scotia Nature Trust, plant swap, seed swap, walk around the pond. ???
It was suggested that Y2K be a separate meeting and some of it based on plant connection. Perhaps the second meeting from now could be dedicated to Y2K.
Next meeting will be education on " medicinal gardens for the millenium ". Somananda and Cheendana will work on creating the poster for this meeting and distribute it. Lois and Loraine will facilitate the March 28th meeting.
Nancy suggested that we as a board need to provide strong leadership for the general membership and that people are ready for projects.
March 20th 9 am at Lois and Brians for the Education committee.
March 20th 1 pm at Somanandas for the Projects committee
Loraine has a list of endangered plants published by the N.S. government
4. Slide show will be handled by Education Committee.
5. Lorelei began a plant savers group in Halifax. What are their plans?
6. Facilitator for next meeting Loraine and Lois on March 28th (as noted above)
7. Advisory Committe - Invite others in the field of Herbs, Health care and conservation and explain about NSPS and requesting their expertise. Is it just for the credentials? Please send in suggested names for Advisory committee (to Cheendana) and we will discuss this further at perhaps a summer meeting. We may call a meeting to connect all NSPS members with potential advisory committee members. We would need a letter to invite them. It was suggested that the beginning of October would be a good time for this kind of meeting.
8. Summer meeting - field trip - ???
9. Frequency of meetings-initially every two months was suggested and agreed upon.
Merrick Gibson, Twyla, Joanna Duey, Sherman, Graham Fisher - Accumalate more data on endangered and at risk plants of NS.
Ideas for Education Committe
- slide presentation
- school curiculum
- medicinal gardens
- pamphlet
- mall wall in Greenwood
- photographs and herbarium
- travelling education show-booth
- library
- web site development
Projects committee
- plant inventory
- propagating
- Akwasasne reservation
- plant rescue
- teaching gardens
- interfacing with other like minded groups
- commercial herb company contacts and their active role in awareness of at risk plants
- build on advisory committee list for proposed October meeting
Other notes....add ons, etc's.....
- Lois will be attending a Naturopathic Conference in October and suggested that she present Plant Savers and possibly the/a slide show.
- On March 15th Lois will be on radio talking about Menopause (?) and suggested that she would ask them to do a similar show in September on NSPS. Sounds good!!
- April 1st is the deadline for an article in the UPS for their summer issue. I spoke with and we will collaborate on an artcle about the starting of NSPS.
- NSPS letterhead and logo???
Immediate request... will someone contact the newspaper(s) and radio to tell the public of our March 28th meeting? Please let me know (or Somananda know ASAP as I will be away March 1-15th) Thank-you!!!
Next Board Meeting... after the general meeting on the 28th of March we would pot-luck our dinner and have a board meeting from 6-9 pm. Such marathoners... see you all there!
In green medicine and earthly love,
Cheendana
From Joanna Duy...
Sorry I missed the board meeting on Thursday. I feel really badly about that ! Things have been incredibly hectic lately, though.
I haven't done too much work on government relations, but I have called the Dept. of Natural Resources and the NS Museum of Natural History and asked them both to send me some info on endangered plant species in Nova Scotia. Someone may already be looking into this, and I hope I'm not being redundant, but I wanted to start with an idea of what plant species we need to worry about and where they are. I should be getting that info next week.
I can't really put too much time into this stuff right now, because my Masters thesis is due on March 6, and things are pretty hectic. I'm also working two part time jobs, and have some other volunteer commitments. Once my thesis is in though, I hope to have some more time to spend on United Plant Savers stuff.
I'll just give you an idea of some of the things I'd like to do in terms of government relations. I'm hoping to send out a letter to the Minister of Natural Resources (do we have one for NS? Guess I'll try to find out!!), and the Minister of the Environment (as well as the critics of these portfolios in the Tory and NDP parties), along with some other groups around the province, like the Ecology Action Centre and the Wild Flora Assoc. of Nova Scotia, as well as the Museum of Natural History, the Blomidon Naturalists Society, and the Eskasoni community in Cape Breton etc etc (the list goes on!). This letter would serve as an introduction to the Nova Scotia Plant Savers, and give an idea of our mandate. I might also want to include a UPS brochure. This is something we might want to consider doing - making our own Nova Scotia UPS brochure. It wouldn't take too much effort or money (just photocopy charges), and yet it would be something we could pass around or mail to interested groups. I would be happy to design something. I love drawing plants, and I have also done a few little writing and editing projects, so I think I could pull something together fairly easily. This might fall under the education committee's mandate though? Let me know what you think.
Anyway - I'd like to send out a letter to these government people/groups and maybe a brochure, just letting them know who we are, some contact information, and hopefully they can put us on a mailing list or just keep us up to date on things and events that are going on around the province that could threaten plants, or just general things that the Plant Savers would be interested in.
I think it was Somananda who said that we should almost have a networking committee - I agree, but I think we can do networking and government relations in the same committee, and I think that's how it ended up. We need to be in touch with other groups that might have similar mandates to ours, because I'm sure they've got a lot of expertise and info that we could use.
Anyway - these are some of the things I've been thinking of. I should also make mention of a new group that's being revived in Wolfville - you may have heard of it - it's the Eastern Kings Community Health Board. Peggy Hope Simpson is, I believe, the chair. Their focus is to educate people in and around Wolfville to stop using chemicals on their lawns. They're hoping to get funding from Env't Canada to have a big educational campaign this summer. I think their goals are in some ways linked to ours (not directly, but indirectly) and there may be room for us to get our message in about native plants somehow through their campaign, which I assume will include educating the public about using non-grass alternatives for landscaping (we could promote planting native species).
Anyway. Let me know what went on at the board meeting, and what you think of the brochure idea (of course I'd need lots of feedback from you and other members of the board on what would go into that) and whether there's anything you need me to do.
One last thing - I feel that I should mention that I'm not completely objective when it comes to government lobbying and stuff. I'm the recently-elected president of the Kings South NDP riding association, so I have definite leanings in that direction. However, I think that I have managed to maintain a lot of objectivity and I won't be afraid of criticizing my own party if they have a policy I'm not happy with. Also, my somewhat familiarity with government structures, and my few connections in the party could help when it comes to interacting with government. I just wanted to let you know that I do have political leanings, but also that I'm not afraid to challenge them.
That's all for now. Have a great day,
Joanna
The next Meeting will be held on Sunday March 28, 99, 1-5 pm at Swallow's Nest in Starr's Point near Wolfville. The theme of this meeting will be "Herbs For The Millenium". We will post more details here at a later date. If you are planning to join as a member, please come prepared to pay your 1999 nsps membership fee. Membership fees - sliding scale $15, $30 and $50 (you choose). This fee will cover basic needs (US ups newsletter)and fund projects.
