ABS Board Minutes 10 September 2023 – American Bamboo Society

ABS Board Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the American Bamboo Society Board 10.September 2023

Call to order: 11:00 PDT [via Zoom]

(1) Quorum (7 voting Directors minimum, out of 13 total):

Directors present (12): Pierce, Edwards, Fox, King, Connor, Banks, Lewis, Simmons, Boeraeve, Clever, Hollenback, Comstock

Directors absent (2): Saporito, Li

Others present:

Carole Meckes (Co-Treasurer, Membership, Webmaster)

Autumn Ramsay (PNWC, Tech Committee member)

Mark Sanders (BAMBOO Magazine Editor)

(2) ABS2023, the ABS 2023 Annual Meeting (Judge) –

An email reminder/update was just sent to all members; Possible new speakers include James Wolf, an industrial designer who has worked in Saigon (Viet Nam) and other countries for 30 years and now lives in the Houston, TX area.

Part of the conference program will be a 1-hour call-in Zoom session.

Ian is reaching out to rare plant donors for the auction and has set auction guidelines. Shipping, if required, will be the responsibility of the winner/buyer.

Mark’s nursery will be available for visiting on 29.October. He grows 16 – 17 species of bamboo.

Shanti and Kristen will place Facebook ads, using up to $250 of the 2023 social media budgeted funds.

(3) ABS2024 Annual Meeting – Hawaii (Carole) –

The ABS2024 site remains tentative, pending further Board action. The wildfires on Maui may prevent holding the conference there. Locations being researched include the Big Island with or without a side trip to Maui, the Carolinas, Midwest locations (Dan’s home, Indiana University, Cincinatti Zoo), West Coast and East Texas possibilities.

Kristen, Carole and the planning committee will send an email to all Mid-States Chapter members exploring possibilities for organizational help.

(4) Species Source List (Bill) –

All queries are finished, data and formatting are underway. Two or three Board members will help with proofreading, then the SSL can be sent to the printer.

(5) Nominations (Harry) –

Closed on 14.Sep. There are now four nominees. Bios will be published in BAMBOO Magazine and on bamboo.org. Ballots will be emailed in advance of the Annual General Meeting.

(6) Website/Tech and Membership (Carole) –

Membership stands at 351 primary ABS members.

The Tech Committee is looking at plugins and the search function.

(7) Arts & Crafts Competition (Shanti) –

Going well, seeing more American entries this year.

(8) Coastal Gardens art installation –

Luc asked about the status, and without the requested grant money the project is essentially dead. Daphne notes that the bamboo grove which was to have been featured has been neglected and has very few surviving culms.

(9) BAMBOO Magazine (Mark) –

All editorial content is in. There are 16 commercial members who will be listed in the magazine, from whom high-resolution logos have been requested.

Mark plans to include a “Landscaping Solutions” column in each issue.

The next step is to send the material to Michael Bartholomew for his guidance in the printing process. David will send the ABS logo to Mark.

(10) Bamboo FAQ & Help Line – (Carole)

Inquiries are usualy from non-members.

James: the PNWC has a handout with bamboo FAQ given to its show attendees which could be adapted for bamboo.org.

(11) Review of Japanese article on gregarious Henon flowering (Luc) –

The authors found no viable seeds, which could have adverse consequences: erosion, other grasses taking over, and more.

(12) Chapter News –

The 29th Texas Bamboo Festival will be held on 21-22.Oct 2023 at Zilker Botanical Garden, Austin, TX.

(13) Events –