Meeting+2016+Jul+14

//**WakeNature Preserves Partnership Meeting**//
Lee Residence Hall Conference Room (1st Floor) - NC State University Campus Map Directions: From Western Blvd take Dan Allen Drive north through campus and turn left onto Thurman Drive just before going under the train tracks. Park in the student resident parking lot on the left. If there is no parking available there, keep going up Thurman Drive to the parking lot in front of Sullivan Hall and/or the baseball/tennis complex. Lee Residence Hall (shown on Campus Map linked above), is at the top of the green space between Sullivan Hall and Fountain Dining Hall. The conference room is on the first floor to the left of the building (there are window signs and a door mat with the WISE Program logo).
 * Thursday 14 July (2nd Thursday) ** 8:30-10

There is also a residential parking lot on the left side of Lee off of Sullivan Drive. Turn left onto Sullivan from Dan Allen Drive and the parking lot will be the first right. Walk around Fountain Dining Hall to Lee Hall.

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 * Attendance Notes**

Hess (notes), Fowler, Connors, Teten

// **Steering** // ** Committee ** (David Shouse, chairman) GOAL: ** Increase momentum ** by growing active signatory membership.
 * We seem unable to increase our membership and it seems time to rethink how we are going about that. Let's revisit our mission, our past successes, and what we want to happen in the future and consider what changes we should make.
 * Meeting frequency - monthly? quarterly?
 * Fall meeting schedule and locations
 * Event frequency and locations
 * Keeping momentum in Cary and Holly Springs, adding Apex + Fuquay-Varina, Morrisville?
 * Associate a WakeWonder + workshop as an event


 * NOTES**
 * Chris Snow has been in touch with Doug McRainey in Cary. Wake County and Cary jointly own the "Raffery Property" - this might be a way to get Cary involved by doing a joint master plan. Scott Pohlman did some baseline inventory on contract for Wake County and it looks like a good site. Chris will continue talking with Doug about this.
 * Connors mentioned the Let's Move federal initiative - there was a kickoff at Wilkerson Park on 11 July - as a possible way to get funding for some of our ideas.
 * WakeWonders is a great idea but takes more effort than we seem to have the capacity for. What if we could get each partner organization to propose a WakeWonder and actually do the work behind the event.
 * TLC inventory at Walnut Hill went very successful
 * Workshops - what if we made attendance require that your organization be a member of WakeNautre - would that help increase membership? Exclusive v inclusive. What if we let people in but "required them" after the workshops to take information to their organization and try to get them to join?
 * Meetings ... maybe core group meets monthly and then we have a 2x/year or quarterly meeting with larger group. Maybe quarterly is at a WakeWonder? Core group meeting replaces steering committee meeting and includes chairs of committees. Another approach is that all the committees meet on the same day each month (ie, that's what our monthly meeting becomes).
 * We need a "needs inventory" and an "assets inventory" from each of the organizations.
 * We've wanted a commitment from agencies that they will manage natural areas as WakeNature Preserves.
 * We still don't have a strong answer to "what do we get out of being a WNP?" - visibility is the main thing we've said, but we've never done it
 * Networking is really important - our workshops have been the best way to make that happen, as have workdays - this is a benefit
 * What if we would only do workdays and inventories on properties belonging to signatory agencies?
 * Main points of membership were to (a) get organizational commitment and (b) pool resources and talents
 * Monthly meetings become working meetings for committees - brief intro / marching orders ... committee time ... report back time
 * 4 quarterly meetings with all member organizations; 2 of those are site tour meetings with extra time
 * If we commit to one workshop, one stewardship event, one inventory event per year ... they are voted on at the quarterly meetings
 * Do WakeWonders serve our public awareness goal or our networking goal?

//**Promotion Committee**// (Kaytee Smith, chairwoman) GOAL: ** Tell the story ** of the highest quality natural areas in Wake County and the stewardship they have and need.

//**Inventory Committee**// (John Connors, chairman) GOAL: ** Places on the ground ** - designate publicly accessible WakeNature Preserves.

//**Capacity Committee**// (Gary Blank, chairman) GOAL: ** Bring resource managers together ** to carry out appropriate stewardship of the highest quality natural areas in Wake County.