AISWCD QUARTERLY BOARD MEETING
FORESTRY COMMITTEE
September 10, 2007
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: CHAIRMAN, Bob Sloan
DATE & TIME: September 10, 2007 – 2:05 p.m.
ROLL CALL: 2 directors, 3 advisors,
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The June 11, 2007 minutes were reviewed and approved.
Motion by: Darrell Roegge 2nd by: Bob Sloan Carried: Yes
WORKSHOPS:
Bob Sloan gave the report for the Tree Farm Annual Meeting. It was held in Jefferson County. The Annual meeting was held and then they were able to visit several areas of different tree plantings. The saw mill drew a lot of attention also.
In August the Walnut Council, Interstate RC&D, NIFA, and the Illinois Forestry Association co-sponsored a Forestry Workshop in Rock Island County with about 140 participants. Bob Sloan attended and the workshop had several exhibitors. Timberland management, harvesting- directional tree falling, chainsaw safety, and a presentation on regulations were several of the session offered.
The Sugar Grove Nature Center, the AISWCD Forestry Committee, and the Illinois Big Tree Register hosted a Citizen Big Tree Inspector workshop on Saturday, June 16.
Illinois Forestry Association, Blackhawk Hills RC &D, AISWCD Forestry Committee, NIFA and Tree Farm will sponsor a 2-day Forestry workshop in September located in Jo Davies County. The second day will have a session on directional tree falling by an expert and limited to 30 people with a fee to attend.
The AISWCD Forestry Committee is trying to arrange a Tree ID workshop a Shiitake Mushroom workshop in the northern part of the state.
ACTION ITEM:
Bob Sloan and Dave Bishop will report to the committee at the December Quarterly meeting on the progress for the workshops.
Illinois Forestry Association Annual Meeting will be held at Renn Lake Resort on October 19 & 20.
ADVISOR REPORTS:
IDOA-Elliott Lagacy reported that Emerald Ash Borer quarantine was expanded to the northern east 18 counties of the state. They have started to do tree samplings in Champaign County. There was discussion on how to treat and prevent the trees from being infected.
DNR, NRCS, IFWA, and IEPA were unable to attend, so there were no reports.
OLD BUSINESS:
Update on Summer Conference-
Session: The presentation given by Jim Appleby was very informative and about 50 people attended the session. He made the session even more interesting because he addressed invasive species also.
Award: IFP was confused and was unable to present the award but Sugar Grove Nature Center received the award at the Soil Stewardship Breakfast. Pictures were sent to IFP and Award winners. A thank you letter for co-sponsoring the award was also sent to IFP.
Letters were also sent to the entries that were not selected and encouraged them to update and re-submit them for next year.
NEW BUSINESS:
Evaluations on Summer Conference Session:
Elliott suggested that we provide our own evaluation form at our forestry session so the committee can better evaluate the session.
ACTION ITEM:
At the June Quarterly board meeting we will produce an evaluation form to be used at our Forestry session.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
Cellulosic ethanol:
Discussion was held on cellulosic ethanol technology. It has been around for many years but can it be done cost effectively. Dave Bishop raised the question about the water production process. Advocates argue that celluosic ethanol is more promising than corn based ethanol because it should use less fuel and water in the productions process and emit less pollution.
Survey sent to Districts:
Letter was sent to all districts from Rich Nichols requesting information on SWCD employees who have training and experience in performing forest transects, preparing forestry management plans and or developing TSIs who also have in interest in performing verification for ICCI forestry contracts.
NEXT MEETING: December 10, 2007
Adjournment: 2:55 p.m.
Motion by: Darrell Roegge