Meeting Minutes for the Environmental Service Committee of Texas State University-San Marcos

September 3, 2008

Attendance

Committee Members Present:

• Hayat Qurunful, Chair, ASG Student Representative

• Melody R. Baker, ASG Student Representative

• Nick Maloukis, NAEP Student Representative

• Danielle Del Castillo Shelton, NAEP Student Representative

• Alberto Giordano, Geography Faculty Advisor

• Randy Simpson, Biology Faculty Advisor

• Tina Cade, Agriculture Faculty Advisor

• Nancy Nusbaum, Account Manager

• Nathan Lawrence

Guests

• Jonathan Davies - Funkotron

• Jason Sanders, Mario Garza, Zach Halfin, John Montoya – Compost Project

Agenda  Account Manager Nancy Nusbaum  Application from Dr. Bonner – Dept. of Biology  Application for Funkotron River Clean Up o Sponsors: Dr. Cade & Melody Baker  Application for Compost Project o Sponsors: Dr Cade & Mario Garza

Start of Meeting – 5:30PM

 Application for Funkotron River Clean Up - Sponsors: Dr. Cade & Melody Baker o Clean up from Rio Vista Park to Stokes Park o Seeking funding to supply food, t-shirts, supplies o Benefit show for Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance at Tantra Coffee House o Outdoor center loaning 3 canoes to the effort o T-Shirts – one color $2.50

 Application for Compost Project - Sponsors: Dr Cade & Mario Garza o Educational composting project o Collecting cardboard from food courts, weeds from the river, composting at Muler Ranch outside town. o Need composting bins with signage for collecting food waste and paper product o Will use compost on campus o Divert waste from landfills and bring back to university o Collect cardboard from Jones diner o LBJ Lair food court – collect food waste daily and compost at the ranch o Trailer Cost – need two more quotes on price o The cost to take the trash off campus is increasing by 5% . 80% of the waste from Jones Diner is OCC o What about contamination? . Hand sorting . Wax Cardboard? o What about Signage? Does it need to be approved o Project is modeled on Illinois State Program – San Marcos would be the first in Texas to make an effort at diverting food waste

 Application from Dr. Bonner – Dept. of Biology o Chair of Spring Lake Watershed Committee o Invasive exotic plants - Chinese Tallow . Highly invasive, 100,000 seeds per tree, allelopathy (kills other trees/plants near by using its own chemicals) . Seeds float down stream – making Aquarena the source for Tallow all the way along the river o Need the labor and the materials o Must kill the seeds, make sure they’re not viable (compost? o Facilities/Grounds will help to cut back the trees – they have the chain saws and the chemical applicators license o Workers will be paid time and a half o It is a very specific procedure and we need to make sure we don’t get poison in the lake o How is it sustainable? . Need control, manage, keep seedlings from coming up o Where are all these trees? . Can we get a map of where they are? o Will the herbicide leech into the ground? Will we be able to revegetate with the herbicide in place? o Are there more stands up sink creek that would thwart efforts? o What can we do besides use herbicide? Is there an organic way? . Its approved by US Fish and Wildlife . What about leeching? . How sustainable is this? Do we need to keep applying herbicide? o Herbicide breaks down quickly, so won’t remain in soil for a long time. o What about re-vegetation? Check out the plant palate, ask Dr. Lemke and Dr. Williamson

o Committee needs to make list of questions for Dr. Bronner to answer . Phase two? What is the plan for re-vegetation? . Allelopathic properties of the tallow? How long does it stay in the soil and keep plants from growing? . What about the matching funds? . How long does the herbicide exist and what are the effects on revegetation?

 Introduction of Danielle Del Castillo Shelton, NAEP Student Representative o Holistic Management International – International organization that helps other organizations make decisions . Training course on how to make decisions . Used by USDA, US Forest service o Make presentation to committee about HMI

 Account Manager Nancy Nusbaum o $67,000 per year 2008 and 2007 o All 2008 purchases have been put through o Fiscal year = September 1 – August 31 o Does the money roll over? . We’ll check on that…. . Need to request it w/n a certain period of time? o Giordano wants to fund grad students and research o ESC needs a PR budget o Need Webmaster to get the ESC website up to snuff . ESC app doesn’t work – needs to be updated . Should we pay someone  River Clean Up Application - discussion o Not in favor because there’s not enough time o Motion to vote Hayat . Unanimously opposed 7:0  Table other applications until next meeting  Dr. Macey’s GreenPrint proposal never purchased o Need to get in touch with Macey to find out what happened o We need to purchase the software for Geography.  Motion to Adjourn - 7:15 PM - Nic o Second Dr. Cade