Rules of Order

Structure

The Common Names Committee (CNC) of the Western Forest Insect Work Conference (WFIWC) shall be a standing committee of no less than three and no more than seven members, appointed for an indefinite term by the Conference Chair.

Roles

The role of the CNC shall be to facilitate the development of, and standardization of, common names for the WFIWC, for submission to the Entomological Society of America (ESA) and the Entomological Society of Canada (ESC). The burden of gathering the necessary information for submission will rest with those making the application.
The CNC will endeavor to ensure that changes to existing common names, and new common names will be submitted to both the ESA and the ESC, and will submit these changes as needed, as appropriate, and in the proper format required by these bodies.
In addition, the CNC will serve as the liaison and coordinating body to other regional forest insect common names committees, as well as the liaison to the national entomological societies' common names committees.
Current lists of approved and unapproved common names will be maintained by the CNC.

Process

Members of the WFIWC will submit all proposed new names through the Common Names Committee. Members submitting common names will be responsible for gathering the relevant information and filling out the forms required for submission to the ESA and ESC.
Submissions can be submitted to the CNC any time during the year.
Submissions will be submitted to the CNC on a standard format prescribed by the CNC. The CNC will review the proposals to see if all required information is provided, and request additional information, as necessary.
Once the proposal meets the requirements for format and information, submissions will be posted on the WFIWC website for 30 days. The CNC will notify the members of the WFIWC, using the electronic membership list maintained by the WFIWC, that the proposed submission is available for review and comment.
If no comments are received at the end of the 30 days, the CNC will submit the proposal to the respective Entomological Societies.
Comments sent to the CNC will be reviewed and summarized, and posted on the web for an additional 30 days. If concerns are resolved, the proposal will be forwarded to the respective Entomological Societies.
If the proposed common name generates significant and conflicting comments, at the end of the second 30 days, the CNC will table the proposal and present it to the full membership at the annual meeting for discussion and vote.
No decisions will be made regarding forwarding a proposal to the national societies without a quorum minimum of 3 CNC members, or a majority of the CNC membership, whichever is applicable.
Any common name accepted by the WFIWC membership but not accepted by the ESA or ESC Common Names Committees will require a new proposal which will be re-initiated at step one of the WFIWC common name approval process. (added March 2006)

View past submissions, current submissions, or
a list of unapproved Western Forest Insect common names
(this list was last updated January, 2008)

Download a blank submission form (MSWord format)

Contact the Common Names Committee

This webpage was last updated on January 22, 2008.
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