The Weekly Bulletin

April 16,2018

 

Call to order: Ed Musterman at 12:05

Invocation:     Pat Brown

Pledge:          Bonnie Yantze

Introduction of Guests   

None

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Jim Beckett enjoys and 82^nd birthday on April 14

Max Miller turns 81 on Saturday

Mystery Person  –

Jim Murphy gave today’s award to Pat Brown who deferred and Bonnie Yantze was the

lucky candy recipient.

Greeter   –

Larry Fick traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska this past weekend to attend his grand-daughter’s First    Communion. He relayed a “Hello” from Max Miller when he later traveled to Lees Summit for

his  niece’s Holy Communion.

Announcements

• Sign In or Pay the Pig – Carl Scott was absent so the pig went hungry.
• Food Bank – Report on the previous weeks volunteer day by Jim Murphy

Soap Box Derby – Rick McKernan

Rick McKernan dispelled the thinking that Soap Box Derby drivers don’t learn anything by getting into a car and racing down a hill a couple of times. Each Derby driver has to dissemble and reassemble the Derby car. They learn about the mechanics of the braking system, the aerodynamics of the car descending the hill a little of the science that goes into racing. He explained the experience is an introduction to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning

• Scholarships – Cyrilla.

The scholarship recipients have all been identified. They include two students from Rock Bridge and Douglas High Schools and one student each from Hickman and Battle High Schools. Jim Murphy will present the award at Hickman HS. Ron Berg agreed to present the awards at Rock Bridge HS and Bonnie Yantze will make the awards at Douglas HS. The presenter for Battle HS has yet to be determined.

• Bike Safety – Mary Dewey

No report today

• Announcements from the floor.

Ron Berg announced last Saturday was Clean-Up Day in Columbia. He helped a crew             pick up trash and picnic remnants after the Twin Lakes Picnic at that city park.

• Board Meeting – Thur 4/19/18, 6:00 at the Club House.  One request: CHALIS- Columbia Housing Authority Low Income Service – $3,000 – Note that on Tuesday, CHALIS decided to defer their request until the May board meeting.  In light of the fact that there was limited other club business the board meeting was cancelled.
• Evening meeting – April 24th, Boys and Girls Club, 6:30.  Valerie Livingston to provide a short program, Bob Floyd, OI VP, to lead a program on membership growth and NOW meetings. All clubs in Zone 2 to receive an invitation. Midway and Kids First say they will be sending members. Haven’t heard from Sunrise or Hallsville.
• April 27^th & 28^th, E. Mo District meeting in St. Louis.
• Midway Sporting Clays Shoot

Saturday, 21 April 2018 Registration: 10:00 am Prairie Grove Shotgun Sports 1420 County Road 276 Columbia, MO 65202

• Kids First Optimist Club, Hawaiian Luau Trivia Contest,  Sat April 28^th 6:00 P.M.,  Dinner, 7:00 P.M Trivia Contest,, American Legion Building (east of town on Route WW)

 

Today’s Speaker

John Weber, US Fish & Wildlife

 

John moved to Columbia in 2005 to join the U.S. Fish and Wildlife team here in Columbia as the Environmental Scientist. He formerly worked for the state counterpart, Missouri Dept. of Conservation in the Jefferson City Office. He lives in Columbia with his wife and two children, one of whom attends school at Gentry Middle School; the other is enrolled in the Calvary Episcopal Church preschool. His office is on the west side of town on Park De Ville. (It’s in the building that was the temporary library during the building of the Daniel Boone Regional Library.)

 

John provided a brief overview of the Missouri geography. There is a variety of prairie, savanna, swamps, caves and first order springs (where more than one million gallons of water emerge each day).  The Glacier Plain comprises most of the northern part of the state with flat land and good tillable soil. Its current use is half pasture and half farmland. Prairie State Park is located in this region. The Osage Plains in the western part of the state south of the Missouri River has rich pasture lands. Several confined area feeding operations are located in this area. The Ozark Highlands comprises most of the southern half of the state where more than 6,000 caves can be found. The Lowlands is a section of the state bounded by Rock Bridge State Park on the northern edge and Mingo National Wildlife Refuge (swamp) on the southern edge.  Finally, there is a section referred to as the Two Big Rivers area. This is the land south of St. Louis where the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers convolute.

 

The U.S, Fish and Wildlife provides a wide variety of services from habitat conservation, to management of both invasive species and endangered species, environmental services and educational services, They are the federal counterpart to the Missouri Dept. of Conservation and work cooperatively with that state agency. They manage fish and aquatic life, migratory birds, international species and provide ecological services. Examples include their fish hatchery in Neosho for the Pallid Sturgeons, work with the Army Corp of Engineers to provide waterways conducive for both navigation and aquatic life, control of the jumping carp that endanger river navigation, creation of barriers and electronic catch techniques to inhibit the passage of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes. They have worked with private citizens on conservation easements ahead of the Tulsa, OK to Chicago oil pipeline. Some of the endangered species they concentrate on include the Northern Long Eared and the Indiana Bats, the Hellbender (a giant salamander), the Topeka

Shiner, fresh water mussels and the Least Tern.

 

Recent projects of our Regional U.S. Fish and Wildlife Office include the building of a gate to a forty (40) acre underground former limestone quarry to prevent people for entering the habitat for the Indiana Bats while allowing free passage to the bats. They have introduced the Topeka Shiners to the Hinkson and Moniteau Creeks. They check blood samples of migratory bird populations for the presence of metals. They have added 6,000 acres of land to the Missouri State Parks and 1,000 acres to the Mark Twain National Forest. John even offered at tip of a location of a fishing pond stocked with edible fish. A good local lake to fish is Dixie Lake near Millersburg.

 

UPCOMING SPEAKERS

April 23 – Member Spotlight – Ron Berg

April 30 – Michelle Gleba  Regional Director,  Better Business Bureau

May 7 – Bill McKelvey,  Community Gardens Coalition

May 14- Jodi Cook, City Volunteer Program Specialist, Waste Reduction and Recycling.

May 21- Matt Luechtman, CASA Program Coordinator, Columbia Public Schools

June 4 – TBD

June 11 – Amy Weeks, CAFNR – Jefferson Farms

June 18 – Detective Tracy Perkins, Boone Co Sheriffs Task Force to Protect Children

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjourn with the Creed: 1:05

Optimistically Yours,

 

Sid Sullivan

Secretary