Monday June 14, 2021 7:00 PM
Virtual meeting using Zoom
MINUTES
Executive Committee Members: Matthew MacConnell, Doug Roysdon, Nanci McGonigal, Marilyn Jordan, David Reber
Guests Donna Cohut (Penn Future)
Minutes Minutes for April 12 and May 12 were approved.
Treasurer’s Report (Dave reber) We had $7,213 in our account on May 31. Matt commented that $3,000 earmarked for the Bee Hive will not be needed because the Lehigh Gap Nature Center is covering costs to install it on the deck of their Osprey House. He spent $1.200 for trees planted at Jordan Creek in Trexler Preserve. Money that had been allocate to work with 8th grade students on water quality was not used because of COVID-19 and is stranded. Our Foundation account is managed by the national Sierra Club.
Web page update (Nanci McGonigal) Our webpage now has 2-factor authentication. Rachel’s job is to post information on Facebook about chapters .
Conservation Reports (Matt MacConnell)
- Buck Mountain2 Acid Mine Drainage Remediation. Matt and Donna have talked about involving Penn Future in the impasse about getting necessary backing to get permission to access the repaired limestone remediation bed. Matt wants to buy a $3,000 level switch that would send a phone or text message if the water level got too high, but would also require funding for a subscription service. This summer he wants to test water quality in the stream, and 8-hour job. Robyn Shumbris said she would help.
- Doug said we need video to do a program.
- Donna mentioned as an individual (Not Penn Future) that several other streams are also dead. Put it in the context of PA where 30% of streams are impaired. Local people weren’t aware; it has become so normalized that streams are impaired.
- Doug: getting the data is hard. Packaging and publicizing it is not that hard.
- Air pollution monitoring. PM 1.0 air quality increased May 2020 to May 2021.
- Water quality monitoring. The Stocking Association owns the probes and wants them in the Lehigh River. If we had our own probes (cost $14,000 each) we could put them anywhere. Doug said 14K was not a lot. We could write a proposal. We need more young people. Matt said he has not found students interested in the data.
- Doug said Peter Crownfield, Internship coordinator for the Alliance for Sustainable Communities-Lehigh Valley has university connections and got several students to report on Climate Change in the Lehigh Valley.
Outings (Group Discussion) Matt said we need an outings chair. Dave said people come to our chapter looking for outings. Itsy Sweeney is not interested. Matt didn’t mind if Amy (PA Sierra Club) arranged outings within our LV area. Nanci said she would post outings arranged by Amy. The Sierra Club National will not allow opening up until August. Doug mentioned the “Afros in Nature” group that might be interested in outings.
The Ice House (Doug) Next year the Pedestrian Bridge will be an active issue. The Bethlehem Climate Action Plan will also be active soon. We need to have in-person meetings to let everyone in the Lehigh Valley know about them. He said he needs to evolve his practices at the Ice House. Doug is paying $25/hour for writing grants for the Ice House, and $15/h for training on social media. Doug suggested paying for jobs our chapter needs done. He wants to do a Sierra Club program in August about plastic. He had a program all ready, but could postpone to September.
Newsletter We should have a newsletter for our members. We should get a few pages to send in July. We could put a briefer version on Facebook. Donna said she will send Matt examples of newsletters, and maybe find some volunteers. Doug suggested All ExCom members add what is most important to them. Include a date and time to meet at the Pavillion and get to know members. Doug can bring metal cups.
Miscellaneous Matt showed a Sierra Club document ”The Teams are Still Evolving.” Chapter conservation teams 2021; summer webinar series.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:40 PM.
Our next meeting will be on August 9, 2021
(We do not meet in July)
Minutes submitted by Marilyn Jordan