The Executive Board wishes you each a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Speaking of Happy New Year, you would make the board very happy in 2006 if you would step up to help us bring about needed changes to the chapter's operations. Among the goals of the board this year is to increase retention of members, to improve our programming for the membership, and to raise the visibility of the chapter to our members and to the general public. With these goals, the board hopes we can do more volunteer work, provide a better experience for our member Master Naturalists and expand our offerings to the public.

If we are going to build the chapter (our retention is among the lowest in the state), provide our members with enjoyable educational experiences and volunteer opportunities, and increase the awareness the general public, then we are going to need your help. I have a listed below a number of areas where we need help; I hope that you will carefully peruse the list. All of these functions are creditable for volunteer hours. Most will involve more time initially and less time as the year progresses. Some are for administrative improvements in which you will be contributing to the smooth operation of all aspects of the chapter so that we can overcome the stumbling blocks that have caused confusion and delay. Others are for outreach activities in which you will be a member of a team that carries the Master Naturalist message to local schools, land owners, the MN state organization, and the general public. An important need is a telephone campaign to encourage our inactive members to rejoin us and to invite them and our current members to chapter activities.

Here's a specific list of where we need help with links to more detail:

1. Develop a conservation/sustainable land management program for local school children
2. Serve on a Land Management Program to conduct site visit for land owners and others
3. Help with publicizing the chapter in the media
4. Help with a booth on Earth Day
5. Develop and construct a poster for our chapter for the Annual Meeting
6. Present/explain your work on a volunteer project(s) to trainees at a meeting
7. Make phone calls to inactive members to renew their participation
8. Take over editorship of our monthly newsletter
9. Manage volunteer project approval and approve projects list
10. Approve and manage advanced training opportunities
11. Work with VP to develop meeting programs and field trips
12. Help maintain membership list, volunteer hours, and advanced training hours
13. Develop a program to recognize outstanding contributions in our chapter.
14. Help host chapter social activities and general membership meetings

Please read through the list carefully and consider what you would like to do. You may choose as many activities as desired. When you have decided what you would like to do for our chapter, please send me an email ( president at haysmn.org ) listing your choice(s) by number and I will get back with you after the holidays. I look forward to working with you in the coming year.

Best wishes for the new year,
Tom Watson
President

Outreach and Education

1. Volunteers to develop and deliver a conservation/nature appreciation/sustainable land management program for local school children. Bryan Davis, our extension agent, will help you set this up and has resources available for such an undertaking.

2. Volunteers to work with the President and Bryan Davis to set up and serve on a Land Management Assistance unit which will perform site visits and range management advice to inquiring land owners. These volunteers will search for organizations (e.g., property owners associations, real estate firms, nature centers, etc.), place brochures that they have developed at those sites to solicit land owner inquiries, and arrange for appropriate advanced training.

3. Volunteers to work with our Secretary to publicize our chapter and its activities. This may include locating county newspapers and visiting their editor carrying the MN message, contacting reporters to cover chapter events, location of public bulletin boards, writing up announcements or articles for publication, and other similar activities.

4. Volunteers to set up a booth for Earth Day and perhaps other events.

5. Volunteers to prepare a poster(s) for display at the annual state meeting that will demonstrate chapter programs for the year.

6. Volunteers to explain their volunteer projects to trainees at training classes and/or social events.

Membership

7. Volunteers to set up and participate in a telephone campaign (chain) to contact inactive and active volunteers to encourage them to become active and/or to continue with chapter activities and volunteering and to invite members to upcoming chapter events.

Administration

8. Volunteer to replace our Newsletter editor Richard Barnett who feels that someone else should take over this chapter function.

9. Volunteers (1) to develop volunteer project guidelines and an efficient procedure for approving project proposals, (2) to review submitted proposals for compliance to the guidelines, (3) to make recommendations to the board for approval, (4) to review the current list of projects for compliance with the chapter and state guidelines and make recommendations to the board for their continuance or deletion, (5) to develop a list of pre-approved projects, and (6) to submit the list to the webmaster for inclusion on the chapter website.

10. Volunteers to approve and notify chapter membership about Advanced Training using the State Master Naturalist guidelines and to review advanced training for approval by the board.

11. Volunteers to work with the Vice President to develop chapter programs and field trips and to help coordinate such.

12. Volunteers to help (1)maintain a roster of the chapter's member names and contact information, updating such as needed, (2) maintain records of volunteer advanced training for regular members and trainees, (3) providing trainee records on a monthly basis to the training committee, (4) order certificates and pins from the state as needed for graduation and advanced training hours for the regular membership and for trainees, (5) record/maintain/provide trainee volunteer hours and advanced training hours on a monthly basis to the training committee for distribution to the mentors, (6) insure members have current liability form on file, and (7)maintain a record of member expertise.

13. Volunteers to develop a program for and to research items that can be used to recognize outstanding contributions by members to the chapter MN program.

14. Volunteers to help host social activities and general membership meetings; you will be coordinating or aiding with setup, decorations, drinks, snacks, and/or food.