Re: Birders, unite!
Norm Saunders (osprey@ARI.Net)
Fri, 5 Mar 1999 18:55:48 -0500
Ellen,
As I see it, your proposal should be handled as a subcommittee of the
MOS Conservation Committee. Since I think Rich Dolesh has no
other members on his committee at this time, perhaps you could
suggest this to him and see if you can work with him to work out a
protocol to get the news out to the membership about conservation
alerts. The system was not 100% effective this time but we did
get the word regarding Sunday hunting out to a much larger
audience that ever before. You may see our effort as a dismal failure
but believe me, we reached far more folks via my mailings and via
MDOsprey than we ever would have in the past at such short notice and
I am proud of the efforts of all of the members of MOS who did
what they were personally able to do to be heard on this important issue.
As I pointed out to Gail, MOS is an entirely volunteer organization.
The people with the energy and the interest in the organization
generally turn out to also be full-time employees in other jobs.
If the MD Senate and House had scheduled their hearings for a
Saturday or a Sunday, then I am sure that many more birders
would have attended. It is really unfair of you to pick at birders
and at MOS when, I think, we did such a good job of getting the
news out this time.
If you feel it would be productive to discuss this with the MOS Board,
the Annual Meeting is NOT the place to do it. That is the time we
try to sum up for the past year what the organization has been doing
and where we see it going in the coming year. Most of the actual
business of the organization is carried out at our four Board Meetings
each year, in September, December, March, and June.
We have a meeting scheduled for next weekend, March 13, up in Elkton,
MD (Cecil County). The agenda right now is VERY full but we can
always make room for another item, if you would like to attend and
discuss your ideas. The next meeting after that is in June, the
second Saturday of the month, and it will be held in Chestertown,
Kent County, MD. The board meetings are open to any and all
MOS members, so if you would like to attend one to get a feel for the
organization, by all means let me know and I'll see you get a package
of materials.
Best,
Norm Saunders
President, MOS
> Dear Norm,
>
> Gail Mackiernan and I were trying to figure out a way to get better
> representation of birders in leg/reg issues that affect us. She
> suggested an MOS committee. Yes, I'm volunteering. I don't think this is
> necessarily the same thing as conservation chair's jurisdiction, because
> not all of these issues will be conservation matters (eg the Sunday
> hunting). Maybe if Rich wants to re-name/re-focus the conservation
> committee, it would serve the purpose, but either way, it has to be more
> than one person.
>
> The purpose of my writing to you is to ask if this could be put on the
> agenda at the annual meeting. Yes, if it's on the agenda, I'll be there.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Ellen
>
> --
> Ellen Paul
> Executive Director
> The Ornithological Council
> Mailto:epaul@dclink.com
> Ornithological Council Website: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET
> "Providing Scientific Information about Birds"
>
>
>
>
>
===============
Norm Saunders
Colesville, MD
osprey@ari.net