Flathead CORE

March 9, 2016

Mary Jo Gardner (retired teacher), Laura Law (Glacier NP), Kathy Martin (Hockaday), Lisa Flowers (Educator), Melissa Sladek (Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center), Sheena Pate (Crown of the Continent GeoTourism), Teresa Wenum (Flathead NF), Patti Mason, Tyler McCrae (Glacier Institute)

 

1.    Website- The art mobile needs to be added to the local providers list. Teresa needs to confirm: Women and Timber (OK as is), MT for Multiple Use- just keep as is; need to change society of American foresters to the local website (Mary Jo will do). Mary Jo will also contact MT Logging Assoc. about their listing.  

a.    It would be great if volunteers could do some new ÒfeaturedÓ articles for the website. Laura said one of her winter volunteers put together one on  winter ÒsoundsÓ article that it is probably kind of late for this year but could still post to rotate through next year. Kathy said she would consider doing something for a spring article – maybe wildlife photography or something on Elizabeth Walker.

b.    Laura has a volunteer who did an article about winter sounds. Kathy is pretty busy right now but still might be able to do one about art. Perhaps an article from Swan Valley Connections about their merger? Teresa said she can ask them.

c.     We could also post on the website the date for next yearÕs Winter Trails Day, January 14, 2017 and the date for the trunk workshop, 10/20/2016.

d.    To get information on the website, Mary Jo and Sheena have been the leads on that. You can email Mary Jo directly at [email protected].

e.    Mary Jo can put photos on website but folks need to make sure they have photo releases. For Winter Trails Day and the Flathead CORE trunk workshop we need to make sure we donÕt take photos of people who sign that they donÕt give permission.

2.    Mary Jo did a summary of the evaluations from the trunk workshop. The date for the workshop next year is October 20, 2016. Sheena Pate and Mary Jo Gardner are coordinating and they are way ahead of the game! United Way space is the preferred spot to have the workshop at. If interested in helping with the workshop contact Sheenat Pate at:  [email protected] .

3.    Earth Day – Glacier Park Lodges and Citizens for a Better Flathead are coordinating another event in Whitefish this year. It sounds like Citizens for a Better Flathead is planning something for April 22 (movie night) -23 (Saturday fair) and then Whitefish again with up to 30 booths and hands-on activities.  Jeff Mow is going to be a keynote speaker. There will be a partnership with ÒClean the Fish.Ó  Woodsy Owl will be there and the Glacier NP Green Team and Centennial SCA Ambassador will be there. Audubon will have a presence there and many others that I am sure IÕm missing here in the notes.

4.    Bioblitz at FVCC- same day as the Whitefish event. Teresa said FNF will be assisting with support for the bioblitz this year. They had some funding to help with tents, porta pots, microscopes and probably some resource specialists. She is still working on details. The date is April 23, 2016 at the FVCC Campus from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. It sounds like Glacier High School teachers and students and some 4th grade students will be participating.

5.    Arbor Day –  Parks and Rec. are having something Friday, April 29th for 3rd graders at Lawrence Park.

6.    National Park Week- April 16 – 23 and it is free entrance days at national parks all week.

7.    Forestry Expo. Is May 2-7th, 2016 – Emails and calls are now starting to sign up to help with this annual event.

8.    MEEA – Conference is approaching quickly. Sounds like some folks from Glacier are going on their own time. Tyler McCrae from Glacier Institute would like to car pool with someone. BTW, Happy belated birthday Tyler!

9.    Watershed Sourcebook Curriculum (middle school) – Based on each chapter of the Sourcebook, there are inter-disciplinary /hands-on lessons. It is out there and being tested by teachers through May 2016. If other teachers want to review it, they should contact Valerie at Flathead Conservation District. Laura suggested that final lessons could be put on the CORE website. She saw Lori Curtis and Walt and mentioned that to them. Kari Musgrove is no longer working at FCD so Laura will add Valerie to the CORE mailing list.

10.  COCEEC – Melissa is taking down the COCEEC website. There will be a notice on it for 3 months about the groupÕs de-banding. She will use wording from the email that went to all the COCEEC participants. The CORE website can host the activities that were on the COCEEC site. Laura and Lisa can still forward requests that come to the CORE website to the appropriate people in the COCE. Laura will have to check to see why Lisa isnÕt getting any of the CORE emails.  On further research, it turns out they are being forwarded to the [email protected] address. There was a suggestion that the crownofthecontinent.org  may also be a good place to put a note about what Flathead CORE does and to try contacting [email protected] if folks have a question about COCEEC.

11. ÒDisover Glacier through Science and Culture,Ó June Teacher Workshop at Glacier Institute Field Camp. This is GNPC grant funded project and please spread the word to teachers about it. There are 32 OPI Renewal Units for participating and we are applying for university credit. A pdf of the draft schedule is available for download from this web page.

12. Forest for Every Classroom – still hoping to kick it off in 2018 with 2017 being a planning year. We donÕt really know how many teachers in our area would be interested and have the time required. Perhaps that can be included in the planning year? Laura is going to submit a 2017 – 2020 request to the GNPC for funding additional admin. support and possibly time for teachers to stay at the Glacier Institute Field Camp or Big Creek sites for a couple of the workshop dates.

 

Round Robin-we ran out of time for this so here is information from last meeting that is still pertinent.

á      FCD from last meeting: Flood Day for 100, 9th graders is scheduled for April 21. On April 6, speakers about FlatheadÕs Deep Aquifer will be at FVCC courtesy of the Flathead Basin River Commission.

á      Flathead Lake Biological Station from last meeting: There is new Flathead Lake map. They are for sale for $20 and can be purchased through Tom.

á      CoC GeoTourism: Steven Gnam exhibit will be at Gov. Conference April 8th-12th    in Kalispell and is at SheenaÕs house so she will make it available for other venues in our area between now and then, just contact her if you have space for it.

á      Road Scholar from last meeting: Vicki Forristal, 871-1729,  [email protected] , is new coordinator for Road Scholar and they are now hiring for this season.

á      Augubon from last meeting: Lisa is re-doing trunks and they will still be checked-out at coop.

 

May and September Meetings

May 18, 4 – 5:30 p.m., NEW LOCATION:

LAWRENCE PARK shelter. Hope for good weather! If someone has it reserved, we will just run over to Hockaday.

 

Sept. 21, 2016, location TBA.