ABS Board Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of the American Bamboo Society Board 7 December 2025
Call to order: 10:00 PST [via Zoom]
(1) Quorum (= 8 voting Directors minimum, out of 13 total):
Directors present (10): Edwards, Connor, Banks, Rogers, Meckes, Boeraeve, Sansome, Sanders, King, Ramsay
Directors absent (3): Pierce, Fox, Kohler
Others present:
James Clever, Bill Hollenback, JuanPablo Martinez
(2) ABS 2025 Conference (Connor, Meckes) –
– Final net after expenses = $4201.79.
– *TABLED*: Use of the above operating margin: Grants; Seed money for 2026 annual meeting; Refund speaker (McCain) who had paid his own registration.
(3) ABS 2026 Conference (Meckes) –
– Third weekend of October 2026.
– 2026 Meeting Planning Committee: Carole Meckes, Dain Sansome, Autumn Ramsay, Laura Hiatt, JuanPablo Martinez.
(4) Membership and Web (Meckes) –
– Current membership = 396.
– Bamboo.org: A new full backup has been made. Ramsay will help standardize date formats to facilitate sorting aMember data.
(5) Other Committee appointments:
– Tech: Carole Meckes, Autumn Ramsay, Bill Hollenback
– Nominating: Final decision *TABLED*, but Lawton Rogers volunteered; possibly Judge Edwards
– Temperate Bamboo Import: Noah Bell, Ian Connor, Luc Boeraeve
(6) Other Positions –
– Advertising Chair: Autumn Ramsay volunteered to step in.
– Arts & Crafts: Shanti Pierce is interested in continuing, but decision *TABLED* pending contact and clarification of her status by Dain Sansome and Ian Connor. Landy Banks will not have time to assist for 3 months.
(7) Species Source List (SSL) (Hollenback) –
– Deadline for Sources to be listed is 31.Dec.2025.
– Connor will work with sources that can’t meet the deadline.
– Projected SSL completion: March 2026.
Deadlines for Bamboo Magazine publication:
Winter: end of November for ad/edit copy; publishes at end of December
Spring: end of February for ad/edit copy; publishes at end of March
Summer: end of May for ad edit/copy; publishes at end of June
Fall: end of August for ad/edit copy; publishes at end of September
(8) “Discord” messaging system (Ramsay) –
– Autumn Ramsay will pursue its use by the ABS Board for communication.
(9) International Activities (Boeraeve) –
– Bamboo Society of Australia Update: BSA has set out a 10-year plan to establish a bamboo industry in Australia.
– Durnford Dart has a 35-acre nursery with extensive bamboo plantings and a pole import venture, and is seeking a successor for his business.
(10) Bamboo Grower Co-ops (Ramsay) –
– Those signing up are being entered into the Excel database.
– The San Francisco Zoo reached out about sources of bamboo for its anticipated acquisition of pandas on loan from China.
– Autumn Ramsay’s new business could create a “panda game” for the Zoo.
Next Meetings –
ABS Board: 4 January 2026 via Zoom, back to the 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern start time.
Adjournment: 11:05am PDT.
