IWLA-PCC NEWSLETTER
PCC Founded 1958 * MAY 2020 *60 years of conservation
“From the Dunes in the north, to the Kankakee River in the south”
Izaak Walton League of America - Porter County Chapter
MEETINGS VIA TELECONFERENCE DURING SHELTERING
May 16, 2020
Teleconference via Zoom (see instructions below)
Email: executivedirectoriwlapcc@gmail.com
Website: NWIconservation.org
Location: 200 W Indiana Ave, Chesterton, IN 46304, USA
Phone: 219-241-7431
Facebook: facebook.com/PCCIWLA
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President - Gary Brown grbrown57@hotmail.com, 219-464-8882
Vice President - Jim Sweeney jp55biod@att.net, 219-322- 7239
Treasurer/Membership - Liz McCloskey tmconservation@csinet.net, 219-326-0700
Secretary - Susan Swarner susan.swarner@gmail.com, 219-201-5498
Chapter Directors: Don Frame df.nature@outlook.com, 219-331-6136 and
Bill Iltzsche biltzsche@hotmail.com 219-464-9850
April PCC meeting Minutes
PCC IWLA Meeting Minutes
as recorded by Secretary, Susan Swarner
4/25/2020 1-2:30-pm via Zoom Teleconference
The meeting began with the pledges
Gary called for a motion to accept the minutes as written. Jim motioned and Bill seconded, and the minutes were accepted as written.
Treasurer’s report was given by Treasurer, Liz McCloskey.
Bill motioned that we accept the report as written, Jim seconded the motion, and the report accepted as written
Executive Director report: The chapter was awarded a $5000 NIPSCO action grant for the bat program expansion, covers Tammy’s training and travel, 7 new partners to place rocket boxes at, audiomoth (smaller bat monitoring piece of equipment), calibrator, batteries, sim cards; need someone to build the rocket boxes. Tammy has an extra monitor that we can deploy at another property in Porter County.
Everyone should join BAT WATCH 2020 on iNaturalist.org
Brandenbark has been ordered, should be here soon.
Gnome’s Day Out: not yet canceled, but Annette is not spending hours on organizing it, June 13th is the official date and June 27th is the rain date.
Porter County Fair: no official word on if it’s happening or not, we will probably not have anything at the fair this year. We are going to plan on having a presence there in 2021.
As of April 15th, Porter County Fair Board is expecting the fair to continue as planned.
VP Report: Jim gave an update on IN Division and National changes.
President’s report: IWLA National Convention is canceled. Elections are also canceled until convention next year. Can’t move forward with Field Center construction right now, now have 50 cubic yards of concrete, Eagle Scout projects not moving forward right now, Gary will check if the boy scouts are still meeting virtually
Greenline: got a permit from the county to have a field entrance, got that done and cut some new trails, made piles for wood, will talk to the county about filling in the hole
Frame: prisoners doing work on Frame is postponed, Dave is going to get on paper a plan for the Frame property so we can start prioritizing what we want to get done, signage from National to discourage shooting onto our property, Jim did look into it and we are better off making our own, Annette will send an email to get feedback on what kind of sign we want.
Dunes Action: There is a lot of construction going on at the Pavilion. They are going forward with building the glass part on the roof as well as the rest of the plan.
New Business: Potential new members asked us if he can hunt turkey in the spring and deer in the fall at the Ravine. There is currently no parking lot there. We can tell him that for now if he joins he can hunt at Bedenkop until hunting is available at the Ravine.
There have been a lot of compliments on the bat newsletter
Bill motioned to adjourn the meeting, Jim seconded and the motion was approved.
Next meeting May 16th
14 members were in attendance, thank you to everyone who participated,. Doing a meeting like this is a new MILESTONE for our chapter!
PCC'S May MEETING
Meeting rooms at the library are currently closed now, through May. Our May PCC meeting will be by teleconference on May 16 at 1pm on Zoom.
If you wish to participate in this meeting, please download the FREE Zoom app. It works on laptops and/or smartphones.
You will receive an email from the host (Annette Hansen). Just click the "join meeting" link and it should take you to the meeting. You can choose to be seen (if your device has a camera) or only heard. Or, join the 1pm meeting HERE and the 1:45pm meeting HERE
The host may mute you while a speaker has the floor. You can 'raise your hand' icon to ask a question, discuss, vote or motion and the host will tally your vote or release your mute so you may speak. Also, the free software only allows a 40 minute meeting so we will cover all topics quickly and have a second meeting scheduled to transfer into at 1:45. It is inconvenient, but free for the interim. Zoom extended our meeting time in April so switching was unnecessary. We have the PART 2 meeting scheduled at 1:45 just in case.
There is a learning curve to this type of teleconference software and we expect some participants to run into trouble. Please read the tips Zoom provides for new users. Also, please be aware that if you are not able to connect with the call, we will circulate our minutes by email following the meeting so you are kept up-to-date. Or you may also call one of us to be put on speaker phone to listen in.
Thank you in advance for trying something new with PCC during the stay at home recommendations. We look forward to seeing your smiling face in person when the virus bans are lifted this summer.
May 16 PART 1: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/72789856578
May 16 PART 2: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76627105938
thank you IWLa indiana division endowment
Following the March 7th IWLA Indiana Division meeting, the group's Endowment board met to discuss project candidates. The Porter County Chapter was awarded it's request for funds to purchase 3 more pieces of BrandenBark to complete our bat habitat project.
THANK YOU to the Indiana Division for seeing our vision and helping us grow this important project.
bat watch 2020
Thank you nipsco!
IWLA-PCC is the recipient of $5K from the NIPSCO Environmental Action Grant to support the expansion of our current Bat Monitoring and Habitat project. The expansion would provide monitoring and habitat equipment for SEVEN partner locations in NW Indiana. They would receive a Rocket Box (bat house) to be monitored full time in bat season with bat call audio recordings taken by AudioMoth equipment. The flagged site map below shows the proposed partner locations.
https://www.nipsco.com/our-company/about-us/giving-back/environmental-action-grant
nipsco environmental action grant
like us on facebook
IMPORTANT PCC UPCOMING EVENTS
5/16 Monthly PCC Meeting
1-3pm Zoom Teleconference
May 16 PART 1: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/72789856578
May 16 PART 2: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76627105938
_______________________________________
6/13 Gnomes Day Out...fairy festival
4-7p Frame Conservation Area
(6/27 rain date)
---------------------------------------------------------------
6/20 Monthly PCC Meeting
1-3pm Thomas Library 2nd floor meeting room
---------------------------------------------------------------
6/30 Family Nature Night at Valpo Events Movie Night
6:30-8p Urshel Plaza, Valparaiso (Dr Doolittle)
---------------------------------------------------------------
7/18 Monthly PCC Meeting
1-3pm Thomas Library 2nd floor meeting room
---------------------------------------------------------------
Naturepalooza - POSTPONED TIL FALL; TBA
Rogers Lakewood Park-Big Wheel Pav.
---------------------------------------------------------------
To volunteer to help with anything that suits you; contact Annette Hansen executivedirectoriwlapcc@gmail.com 219-241-7431
spring volunteer jobs
*Install signs at Frame Conservation Area to show borders (5 or 6) on metal fence pickets
*Install signs at Bedenkop for agritourism (4) on metal fence pickets and install 8 field cameras
*Lay fresh hay on the fairy house trail for Gnomes Day Out
*Cut and assemble 7 partner Rocket boxes (bat habitat) from home
If you can volunteer to help with any of these little jobs,
please contact Annette Hansen 219-241-7431 or executivedirectoriwlapcc@gmail.com
Pcc bat report
"ADOPT A BAT" MAKES A GREAT GIFT
and it's an educational tool for children
stuck at home during the sheltering.
AND you'll receive our popular publication; Chiroptera Monthly
EVENT CHANGES
5/12 Family Nature Night
6-7:30p Discovery Charter School
---------------------------------------------------------------
Naturepalooza - POSTPONED TIL FALL; TBA
Rogers Lakewood Park-Big Wheel Pav.
---------------------------------------------------------------
E-STEM in the Field educational programs for Spring 2020 as supported by NIPSCO Environmental Grant and IWLA National and Indiana Division Endowments.
monuments to lives well spent
She was out on a walk by herself to get some fresh air and nature during the social distancing order and bumped into this on the trail:
Hugh Dugan Memorial
In memory of Hugh Dugan
and his efforts for
clean streams in
DuPage County
Izaak Walton League
1965
So, a special THANK YOU to all of you Ikes in Porter County Chapter that work so tirelessly, even during a pandemic, to keep America clean, healthy & natural! I don't have a stone memorial for you, but you would ALL deserve one! xo Annette