Attendees:

Helen de la Maza: S. AEOE Chairperson and Membership Coordinator
Brandy Bartholomew: S. Chair Elect
Robb De Forest: Board Member at Large (interested in helping with S. Newsletter…update: now the new Southern Newsletter Editor!)
Edgar de Forest: Robb’s grandfather
George Stratman: State Coordinating Secretary
Kathleen Mitchell (there for half the meeting): Very Past S. Chair, and big AEOE helper and supporter
Michael Charnofsky: Outreach/Public Relations Coordinator
Julie Lancaster (there for the beginning of the meeting and our host): Past Past S. Chair


Fall Conference:

Nov 1-3 at Pathfinder Ranch near Idyllwild. 4,000 feet elevation with a diversity of ecosystems including pine forest, grassland, riparian and lake, chaparral.

Preliminary Capacity: Camping: 60, Cabins: 54. Charge to AEOE: $0. We could possibly stretch that number a little, but much more and we need to talk with Chris Fife, the Camp Manager, and perhaps work out a fee for everyone above 114. The Weekend Manager is Mick, who wears a cowboy hat. There may be another group renting the camp at the time, and if so we will need to coordinate with them the use of the buildings. We can use the Recreation Room (pool, foozball, etc.), the Climbing Wall Room and a few others. We can “hire” or convince Pathfinder Ranch Outdoor School staff to take people canoeing on the lake, horseback riding, and other activities.

Camping: Julie showed us the camping area, which has plenty of space.

Cabins: There are 3 adjoining rooms, and currently the bunkbed capacity is 46, but extra mattresses can be put into the center room between the two main sleeping rooms. There are two large bathrooms with showers, which we decided should be designated male and female.

There will be designated parking areas, which could fill up quickly if another group is using the site. If that happens, there are other places around the camp where people can park..

Quiet Time: 10:00 p.m.

Alcohol: ABSOLUTELY NOT on site.

Recycling and Trash: Pathfinder takes care of it.

Schedule: Very similar to the past few years. See descriptions of possible activities after schedule:

Friday:

5:00-10:00: Registration
Evening (time?): Costume Party and Dance (Holloween is the night before)

Saturday:

7:00 Birdwatching
9:00 Intro to conference, and possible activity
9:30-10:45: Workshop Session 1
11:00-12:15: Workshop Session 2
12:15-2:00: Lunch and Break
2:00-3:30: Workshop Session 3
5:00: Dinner
7:00-9:00: Campfire Program
9:00-10:00: Astronomy

Sunday:

7:00: Possible Birdwatching
8:00: Breakfast Board Meeting
9:15-10:45: Workshop Session 4
11:00: Closing
After Closing: Lunch and Continued Board Meeting

Workshops: Helen’s goal is to get 6 for each session, 24 total.

Saturday Astronomy: Michael will contact Dean Arvidson.

Birdwatching: Michael will contact Eric Haskell.

Friday Night Costume Party/Contest and Dance: Laura Vandezande (S. AEOE Activities Coordinator) was suggested to be the coordinator of the event. The dance depends upon being able to use a room with a good music system, or finding someone to bring a system. We will need some good prizes for costumes.

Saturday Evening Campfire Program: After some discussion, we decided to have a few different activities. Helen will ask the Mandels, the couple who won an award for the song they sung at the 2002 Conference, if they will play some of their original tunes and also share how the AEOE Conference affected them as classroom teachers. Helen will also ask Scott Edgecombe if he would MC an Impromptu Storytelling Session. Based on “Whose Line is it Anyway,” storytellers would be given random, maybe strange objects, brought by the audience from their workplaces, and on the spot come up with a story using that object.

The campfire area can sit up to 100 with extra chairs put out, but the front benches are very close to where the campfire would be. We discussed options for having a “smokeless” campfire.

Fall Conference Cost: $20 for early registration and $30 for late/onsite registration. For the $20 rate, registration forms must be postmarked by Friday, October 17. We decided to have two weeks between rates because Helen, who is doing registration, will be on vacation soon after October 17. Also, the camp wants to know our numbers 10 days in advance (though Julie mentioned this deadline was not very strict)...After October 17, people can contact Brandy while Helen is on vacation to make sure there is room…and then probably register onsite at the conference (exactly how this will work has not been decided yet).

Fall Conference Jobs

Site Liaison: Helen
Preregistration: Helen
“Dark Period” Contact: Brandy
On Site Registration: Michael, Zayanne ($), Helen
Presenter/Workshop Coordinator: Helen
On Site Presenter Assistant: Julie
Saturday Dinner and Snacks: Kathleen
Workshop Sign up Sheets: George
Green Organizer: Michael
Housing Coordinator: Brandy
Dance/Costume Party/Prize Coordinator: Laura (hopefully)
Parking:
Signs:

Lawyer/Non Profit Issue:

On May 21st, George Stratman and Zayanne Gardner met with Lisa Rundquist, the lawyer AEOE hired to help us achieve nonprofit status. The Articles of Incorporation and the current AEOE Bylaws have been sent in, and Dan Allison over the summer will rewrite the Bylaws. Now Lisa is waiting for financial information from N. AEOE and Savannah, which will then be organized and consolidated by Zayanne. Once that is finished, Lisa will send everything in. George says that Lisa is very optimistic about achieving retroactive NP Status for AEOE.

AEOE Budget: No final information yet after the conference, but AEOE is doing quite well financially. We briefly discussed a statewide issue: now that we are doing better financially than ever before, what will we do with that money? Michael suggested reimbursing board members for travel expenses when traveling to board meetings, and others mentioned guidelines on how that might be done effectively.


2002 Conference Report

The evaluations were very positive, including an impressively high mark for “overall conference value.” George will be evaluating the evaluations soon and sharing that information. Overall everyone feels the conference was a huge success.

Future Suggestions:

Registration: have more help with registration so that people can take breaks. Also, have a list of specific information that people should be told who register. On the future Preregistration form, consider having an emergency contact number. Helen suggested being even more strict with blackout period deadlines, to make the job of the Registration Coordinators much easier.

Camping vs. Housing: we need to do a better job of keeping track where people are sleeping, especially if we need to pay the camp different amounts. We probably ended up paying Camp Hess Kramer more than we needed.

We should have an informal First Aid Station at conferences, coordinated by someone with medical training. At the same time, we should be careful about liability issues. George will make up an AEOE Accident Report Form.

Helen brought up the point that the location of Bill Andrews’ talk may not have been ideal due to the noise level of registration in the same building, and people getting ready to sign up for workshops. There may, however, have been a bigger audience for Bill’s talk than if it was in a different building since people were coming in for other activities as well. Covering up the workshop descriptions and sign up sheets everyone feels was quite necessary to keep activity and noise levels down.

Brandy wants ideas for possible locations for the 2004 Statewide Conference. Michael told her about some camps that he came across in his past searches that might be possibilities, and referred her to Marge Driscoll of the ACA and to the ACA website.

Southern AEOE Newsletter:

Maggie has been unable to work on the late spring/summer issue due to family emergencies, but she hopes to get the newsletter out soon. She is also looking for someone to take over the Newsletter Editor position. Maggie will be very willing to help train her replacement. Robb De Forest showed some interest in helping with the newsletter. Update: Robb has volunteered to become the Southern Newsletter Editor. Maggie has emailed him articles and other things necessary for him to create the summer newsletter.

The deadline for mailing out the fall newsletter is September 15th. If Maggie or someone else cannot do it by then, George Stratman suggested he can make up a Fall Conference Flier and Registration Form, which can be mailed out instead of a newsletter (Update: that will not be necessary with Robb taking over the newsletter).

Ideas of Possible S. Activities for Next School Year:

Palomar Staff doing a weekend or day long Race Relations workshop for AEOE members (George Stratman)

Fall Interpretive Workshop in Pacific Palisades, sponsored by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Attendees can get an NAI (National Association of Interpreters) certification (Robb will contact us about dates).

Tracking Workshop (Robb)

Winter Palm Springs Tram ride up the San Jacinto Mountains for cross country skiing.

Winter and spring birdwatching trips

Hike in the San Rafael Wilderness to Hurricane Deck (Brandy)

Spring Joshua Tree Campout at the Employee Campground

Plant Restoration Day at Starr Ranch (Helen)

Spring Canoeing on the Colorado River

Zero Population Growth Training Workshop (Helen)

Acorn Naturalists “Help Day” when their EE Conference Center and business headquarters is close to completion


ROEE Conference: The Residential Outdoor and Environmental Education Conference will be at Camp Cuyamaca on February 14th-17th, the site of one of the San Diego County Outdoor Science Schools. George will be helping to coordinate this conference, and we discussed the importance of advertising it with AEOE members.

Recognition of AEOE Volunteers/Board Members: Kathleen led a quick discussion that AEOE should have some sort of certificate or other way to recognize the work that board members and volunteers do for AEOE. We decided to bring it up at the Statewide Board Meeting to coordinate efforts with Northern.

AEOE /OEE Certification: George led a quick discussion on his and Zayanne’s idea that, in the future, AEOE can sponsor week long workshops where people can get training and certification in Outdoor EE curriculum and techniques. We decided to bring it up at the next Statewide Board Meeting and to have it on the agenda of the future path of AEOE.

Statewide Board Meeting: Helen will contact the Executive Board to work on a date for the next Statewide Board Meeting, probably in mid September. Brandy, who is the Director at the Outdoor School at Rancho Alegre in the Santa Barbara County Mountains, agreed to host the meeting (if she is still there). This site is a good location because it is closer to N. Board members than other possibilities, though if anybody wants to fly, the Santa Barbara Airport is small and very expensive.