Western Forest Genetics Association

Annual General Meeting

Anchorage, AK, June 29, 2006

 

Minutes

 

 

Call to order at 11:10

 

In attendance:

 

Sally Aitken

Paul Hennon

Marc L. Rust (recording)

John Alden

Jason Holliday

Tongli Wang

Mike Carlson

Barry Jaquish

Bob Westfall

Marilyn Cherry

John King

Kimberly Wallin

Keith Cox

Suzanne Nagi

Jack Woods

Christine Dean

Greg O’Neill (chair)

Alvin Yanchuck

Joan Dunlap

Roger Painter

 

Lauren Fins

James Roberds

 

 

 

1. Minutes

·         Lauren Fins noted that her last name was spelled incorrectly in the 2005 minutes and asked that the correction be noted.

·         Motion: to accept the 2005 minutes (Dean/Aitken. Carried)

 

2. Financial Report

·         Greg O’Neill presented the financial statement prepared by Keith Jayawickrama. 

·         Motion: to accept 2005 financial statement (Fins/Woods. Carried)

·         The group discussed moving some of the excess funds in the checking account into the endowment at OSU, but decided against doing this because the endowment currently has sufficient funds for the speaker and poster awards.

·         Motion: to authorize the executive to explore options of moving some funds from the checking account into a fund that is easily accessible, but would generate more interest income (Woods/Cherry. Carried).

·         Motion: to change the fiscal year ending date to December 31 (Aitken/Fins. Carried).

·         Motion: to authorize Marc Rust as an alternate signatory for the WFGA checking account (Yanchuck/Fins. Carried).

 

3.  Date and Venue for Future WFGA Meetings

·         Marc Rust provided some information about the 2007 meeting.  It will be a joint meeting with SFTIC in Galveston, Texas.   Dates are June 19 to June 21, 2007

·         Marc Rust asked for some input regarding the 2007 meeting.  Lauren Fins volunteered to assist with the program.  It was suggested that we inquire about having a field trip as part of the meeting.

·         Discussion focused on biennial as opposed to annual meetings for the future.  Meetings could be in even-numbered years when SFTIC meetings are not held, or in odd-numbered years when CTIA is not held.  Another consideration involves the location of the CTIA meetings.  When CTIA meetings are in western Canada, WFGA might consider a joint meeting with CTIA.

·         Motion: that the executive committee solicit input from the WFGA membership regarding the frequency of WFGA meetings (Cherry/Woods. Carried).

 

4. Election of New Officers

·         President: Marc Rust, VP 2005/06, will become president for 2006/07, according to WFGA tradition.

·         Motion: Tongli Wang be approved as Secretary/VP for 2006/07, to serve as president for 2007-08. (Aitken/Fins. Carried).

·         Treasurer (two-year term): Keith Jayawickrama will serve his second year as Treasurer 2006/07.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 12:05 pm.

 

Later in the day the following awards were announced:

 

Critchfield Award

Tanya Latty, University of Calgary, was announced winner of the award for 2006.  The award provides $700 US to assist the winner to attend a conference of his or her choice and encourages the winner to present a paper at the meeting.

 

Poster Award

Suzanne Nagi, Middlebury College, was announced as winner of the $250 US poster award for 2006.