OWL Meeting
Monday, November 11, 2011
7:00pm
NVRPA Headquarters
Attendance: Three board members (M. Zamon, F. Zamon, M. Rubin), John Houser, two members, one non-member, and two graduates students from GMU.
The agenda and bylaws draft was distributed.
Mary Zamon proposed and the group agreed that the annual membership meeting be set for Monday, January 9, 2012.
Mary distributed brochures to our guests from GMU as well as Jen Zamon. She offered a basic introduction to OWL and discussed the new trailhead recently opened near Jackson Dam.
Presentation:
Michelle Ryan and Merdith McCone from GMU gave a presentation to the group entitled: “Mystery Snails and the Occoquan”.
The presentation included a proposal that OWL assist the efforts to monitor this invasive species as a citizen science project. Participants would be asked to record sighting of the snail on the water. Reports may include:
-Date/time
-Location
-Quantity
-Dead/alive
There will be no need to collect any specimens.
John Houser proposed we could work with NVRPA to disseminate information about the snails and the project to the parks.
Meredith may be reached at
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Michelle may be reached at
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This presentation will be made available on the OWL website.
John reported that the Healthy Paddle meeting was attended by six people and went very well. John described the basic concept and then some of the plans:
-Kickoff in the spring
-Establish a log for people to monitor
-Suggested one highlighted paddle be featured per month
-Joyce Wenger is to break the trail into six segments
(will also work on a walking trail for non-paddlers)
-Wrap up event would be held in November
-thru paddlers will get a patch
-all others will receive a certificate
John stated that we will need a partner, preferably a hospital. One strong candidate would be to work with the physicians that OWL members met at a event back in May.
Mary suggested Kaiser may be a good candidate for partnering with.
John announced that REI has already expressed strong interest.
John then stated that the paddles that are planned will have to be safe. We will need to educate participants and establish good guidelines.
Mary suggested that we need to look into getting another tandem kayak for families who wish to participate together. A discussion ensued as to whether tandems are useful for inexperienced paddlers.
The next committee meeting for Healthy Paddles will be December 15 at 7pm.
In April, OWL member John Kesler will help with the opening event. REI will also assist with the opening event.
Mary announced that she was joined by Judi, and Mike Lenehan at the cleanup hosted by the Occoquan Regional Wildlife Refuge.
The cleanup was land based. There is interest in also doing water based work.
There was a question as to how best to remove tires which can’t be done from the shore. One idea was to have a paddler throw a tie around the tire and tow it in from land.
Mary said that a Grant Committee will do most work through email. She is in the process of finding interested participants.
Returning to the subject of the January 9 annual meeting/dinner.
The event will consist of the election of officers. Nominations should be sent to Michael Rubin. A call for nominations will be posted on the website.
There will be an opportunity for various committees to report.
There will be an OWL 2011 summary report.
The students from George Mason who are assisting OWL with marketing will be making their presentation on December 14. (Note: the professor who had been working with these students fell ill and a new advisor is now on the project.)
John announced that there is still $1961 left in REI funding.
Mary stated that because the camera has no chip, we were unable to take pictures at the cleanup. Mary and Fred Zamon will purchase and receive reimbursement.
OWL member Jim Zawlocki suggested using the camera with GPS for tracking and plotting.
John reminded the group that we still need to stain the new shed at Occoquan Regional Park, even in the cold weather. If OWL members cannot do this, he will have his staff take care of the project.
The group decided to shoot for November 20 between 1-3pm.
John will leave paint and supplies inside the shed.
Bylaws vote:
It was determined by a vote of members present that board members will be elected to specific positions. Wording to the bylaws will be changed to reflect this change with no further voting.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30pm.
Submitted: Michael S. Rubin, OWL Recording Secretary.
owlva.org -
Minutes - Nov 11 2011
