Nightwing News Spring 2018
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Nightwing News The Newsletter of the Southeastern Bat Diversity Network Volume 108, Number 1 Spring 2018 PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS Katrina Morris I hope you were able to attend the most recent Joint Bat Working Group meeting in Roanoke, VA this past March. A summary of the meeting is included in this newsletter in case you missed it. I want to extend a huge THANK YOU to the host committee who put together this excellent meeting. Rick Reynolds and his crew faced unforeseen challenges during planning and they were able to pull off a meeting with great new information, valuable discussions and a good introduction to the beautiful town of Roanoke. The spring meeting was attended by close to 400 people! I am amazed at how much our regional bat working groups have grown over the past ten years. With this increase in growth, I would expect an increase in participation in the leadership of these working groups. But that’s not happening at the same pace. If you look back at the history of SBDN, you’ll see the same names repeated over and over again: Mary Kay Clark, Tim Carter, Joy O’Keefe, etc. It’s understandable to have the same people on the list year after year when these groups were just getting started and bat biologists were rare. But now, 22 years later with a substantial increase in the amount of bat work and bat biologists, the SBDN leadership should be filled with new faces. As I mentioned at our SBDN business meeting in Roanoke, we will be having elections this fall. Three positions will be open including President-Elect, Secretary and Board Member at Large. More information about these positions, our executive committee and a link to our bylaws can be found here: https://sbdn.org/about-us/. If you have questions, I’m sure any of the current officers would be happy to help! If you’re not quite ready for that level of leadership, one of our committees might be a good place for you to start. You can find a list of the committees and their contact information in this newsletter. If you think you have something to contribute, contact the chair and see if they are in need of some new membership. If you want to start something new, let me know. New ideas are always welcome and the executive committee appreciates your suggestions for positive change. Finally, if you want to get involved on a more local level, consider your state bat working group. We currently have links to six state working groups listed on our website (https://sbdn.org/links/) and there are other active state groups in the southeast. Many of these groups have regular meetings and some have yearly mist-net events. These groups face the same problems as SBDN and the other regional bat working groups. Most of the In This Issue work is taken on by a few individuals. Maybe you can change that by volunteering to help. President’s Address 1 Be on the lookout for the call for nominations for the SBDN Ex- Executive Committee Meeting 2 ecutive Committee this fall. And look closely at your state update Executive Committee Contact 5 in the next Nightwing Newsletter. Maybe you’ll find a new op- Other Committees Contact 6 portunity to devote a small amount of your time to a hard- Committee Reports 7 working group that needs your help. And in the process, you’ll be Bat Blitz 9 rewarded with new experiences, new ideas and new connections. WNS Update 11 I promise it’s worth your time. Annual Meeting Summary 12 Thank you for all that you do for SBDN and for bats. Good luck Awards and Recognition 16 with all your summer fieldwork! Meeting History 19 Upcoming Events 20 Closing Comments 22 Trina Meeting Abstracts 23 706-557-3220 1 Executive Committee Meeting Southeastern Bat Diversity Network Executive Committee Minutes of the Annual Board Meeting March 26, 2018 Attendees Trina Morris, President Katherine Caldwell, Secretary Brian Carver, Past President Pete Pattavina, Member at Large Luke Dodd, Treasurer Steve Samoray, Incoming President Elect Action Items AI1: Morris, Samoray, and Carver work together to update and post the meeting host package to the website. AI2: Morris work with contributors to post bat blitz host package to website. AI3: Dodd make document for student travel award reimbursement. AI4: Carver contact Rojas and Wilhide to find out timeline for newsletter and if they want to contact state biologists or if Carver should do this. AI5: Carver work with poster committee to make progress on poster this summer. AI6: Pattavina check on whether board is indemnified. AI7: Dodd and Caldwell get membership records updated. Call to order: 3:35PM EST, President Morris General Discussion Discussion about next year’s joint meeting, led by Rick Reynolds – VA Fish and Game Next year’s annual meeting will include SBDN, NEBWG, and MWBWG, taking place in Roanoke, VA from 26 – 30 March 2018 (Tuesday – Thursday). The location is near downtown, has an airport shuttle, and is close to food and other options. There is a local pub within walking distance where the social may happen. There is one big room with dividers for the meetings. Lots of people are involved in helping to plan the meeting – Pete Pattavina, Trina Morris, Rob Meis, Tim Carter, Emily Davis, Mark Ford, Paul Moosman, Jeff Gruver, Karen Powers. The hotel has an association with Virginia Tech and tried to get free parking, but couldn’t work it out. However, the hotel put in for a grant to help cover some expenses and was awarded $2500. NEBWG has offered up $2000, and the host committee would like to ask for $2000 from SBDN. MWBWG is too new to have surplus funds to contribute. Trying to keep registration costs down. There will be committees set up in order to get everything done. There isn’t a program topic at the moment but the format will be similar with the Colloquium on the last day. The registration doesn’t have to go through the venue so the registration cost will be similar to previous joint meetings. Registration is going through Organization for Bat Conservation (Rob Meis). October 2017 Executive Committee Meeting Action Items: Action Item 1 irrelevant because dealt with 2017 bat blitz. Morris contacted Carter about meeting host package and will take this over. AI1: Morris, Samoray, and Carver work together to update and post the meeting host package to the website. Morris contacted Whitby about bat blitz host package and will take this over. AI2: Morris will work with contributors to post bat blitz host package to website. Dodd developed template for reimbursing student award recipient for travel expenses. AI3: Dodd will put template into docu- ment form. Not done. AI4: Carver contact Vanessa Rojas and J.D. Wilhide to find out timeline for newsletter and if they want to contact state biologists for updates or if Carver should do this. Action item 6 done Carver has made initial contacts with state working groups. AI5: Carver work with poster committee to make progress on poster this summer. Action Items 8 – 12 done. 2 New Business: Membership Members paid their dues in multiple ways this year (through Organization for Bat Conservation, mailed checks, at JBWG Meet- ing, and through SBDN website), so we need to get the membership list up to date between now and the next conference call. Cre- ated action item for Dodd and Caldwell. Treasurer’s Report As of 24 March 2018, there were $83,010.74 in SBDN accounts. Of that, $3,954.33 was in our general account. Membership dues remain our primary source of operating income. The largest expenses we incurred this past year were related to tax preparation ($600) and website maintenance ($400 + $250). The loss of $1,599.78 in 2017 was mostly in relation to the 2017 SBDN / Collo- quium Meeting. The inflow of funds for 2017 totaled $84,240.45, whereas outflows totaled $85,840.23. We serve as a bank for 5 different state bat working groups (AL, GA, KY, NC, TN). As is readily apparent from the amount of money moving through our bank account, and the amount of money held on behalf of various functions and groups, we perform a valuable service to the bat community. Since the close of the 2017 year, much of the Treasury’s effort has been placed on the current meeting. As has been well-discussed in conference calls and miscellaneous written correspondence, starting in Nov 2017, the Organization for Bat Conservation (OBC) was collecting pre-registration funds for this meeting. By mid-Feb 2018, OBC began a process of shutting down and dissolving. At that time OBC had not provided any pre-registration funds to the meeting organizers (i.e., MWBWG, NEBWG, SBDN). It was uncertain if those funds would be available for the meeting. Late February 2018, meeting organizers met to prepare a plan to cover the gap in funds to ensure this meeting would proceed as planned. Since then, OBC has provided 87% of these meeting funds. OBC has further reinforced that the various bat working groups should expect the remaining $5,000 unrecovered funds to be deliv- ered in the coming weeks concurrent with auction. Many years ago, Tim Carter took $10,000 and placed it in a reoccurring 30 day CD. This CD was closed out on 23 Feb 2018. Over the course of this investment we earned $70.49. Thus, the total of 10,079.49 is now integrated into our general checking account.