The Coronado Crossing RC&D board met Thursday, March 6, 2008 in Dodge City for its regular bimonthly meeting. President Glenda Harvey called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. Members present were Dale Yonker, John Ewy, Ron Temaat, Tom Flowers, Jerry Rakes, Lea Ann Seiler, C.J. Wettstein, Ed Elam and acting coordinator, Roger Masenthin. Visitors present were Mike Dunlin, John Klempa, and Bob Atchison.

Members and guests were introduced. The agenda was discussed and allowing the guests to speak first was approved. The minutes from the January 3, 2008 meeting were approved as distributed.

Bob Atchison discussed the grant which was awarded to the Kansas Forestry Service on behalf of Coronado Crossing’s windbreak project. The grant was for $116,000 which KFS will match with labor and equipment. KFS hopes to provide information on the size and condition of existing windbreaks as well as potential sites for new windbreaks using GIS and remote sensing. Roger or Dollie will e-mail copies of the KFS grant to board members to be shared with local sponsors. Bob will be added to our e-mail contact list to facilitate communication on the progress of the project.

Mike Dunlin discussed K-State’s part in the windbreak project. Using K-State software and NRCS aerial maps to asses the condition of the windbreaks, he anticipates it will take 15 hours per county.

Ed Elam presented the treasurer’s report. C.J. Wettstein moved and Jerry Rakes seconded to accept the report and pay Lea Ann’s expenses from the Southwest State’s Conference. All in favor. Motion carried.

The following 2008 projects were discussed:
Adopt-a-Bike Program – There are 65 bikes ready to come back to Hodgeman County and at least 50 in Dodge City ready to go up to Ellsworth. Ed Elam moved and C.J. Wettstein seconded for Coronado Crossing to pay the fuel for Clark County’s recycling truck to take the old bikes to Ellsworth and bring back the reconditioned ones to Hodgeman County. All in favor. Motion carried.

Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry – We have received a thank-you letter from Seward County for the deer meat. There is still some deer meat available. There is no final report yet on the number of deer processed.

Walk-in Birding Project – Funds are no longer available for this project. Ed Elam moved and C.J. Wettstein seconded to drop this project. All in favor. Motion carried.

Rotary Dictionary Project – Those dictionaries were distributed.
Old Business
Community Tree Inventory – John Klempa, the new SW District Forester, has not been able to get through all the boxes of files left by he predecessor. When he gets those counts compiled, he will report back to us.

The NRCS Conference in Wichita went well. Ron Temaat and Bob Atchison did a good job presenting the information about our windbreak project.

There was no report on the National Leadership Forum in DC at this time. The National Association of RC&D Councils will hold a conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico in June, 2008.

Lea Ann will compile highlights of the SW States RC&D Conference in St. Louis and e-mail them to the board members.

New Business
A reminder about the Board Capacity Training and Non-Profit Management which will be held in Salina, April 7 & 8, 2008. More information will be e-mailed out to be shared with all the non-profits in each county.

Next Meeting Date – May 1, 2008 from 1 – 4 p.m. in the government building in Dodge City. Further information on where in the building the meeting will be held will be e-mailed out.

With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.