Minutes of the Meeting of the American Bamboo Society Board 8 Jun 2025

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

(1) Quorum (= 8 voting Directors minimum, out of 13 total):

Directors present (9): Edwards, Connor, Meckes, Boeraeve, Clever, Kohler, Sanders, King, Ramsay

Directors absent (4): Pierce, Fox, Banks, Rogers

Others present:

Danila Sheveiko

John and Michelle Tkach

(2) ABS 2025 Conference (Connor, Clever) –

– Schedule is now complete. There will be no live auction because of how difficult it was to get plants to the St. Louis meeting; sponsors filled the $$ gap there.

– For 2025, 3 sponsors have committed and more are being recruited. A link for potential sponsors will be on bamboo.org soon.

– Volunteers are needed to help seek donations for the silent auction. Donations of plants are allowed. Ramsay volunteered to help but not to do the whole job herself.

– (Boeraeve): The discussion of how to manage excess receipts over expenses will be deferred until the live Board meeting in Greenville.

(3) Liability Insurance for ABS2025 (King) – 

– A consensus of the Directors directed King to obtain a policy for Warren Wilson College, the only venue which requires an additional insured certificate from the ABS. The premium is expected to be about $125; $200 was approved in case the final premium turns out to be higher after the application is accepted.

– Additional venues/days will require separate policies; the Board will decide later whether or not to purchase these.

(4) Advance funding of an honorarium for an ABS2025 speaker (Meckes, Sheveiko) – 

– Meckes moved, and Boeraeve seconded, a motion to advance $3,300 for a speaker presenting at of the Arundinaria session. This amount is over and above the $18,000 budget for meeting expenses. In addition, the advance would be only part of the honorarium charged, with the remainder as yet not secured from other sources.

– The discussion revolved around the cost and brevity of the presentation, while acknowledging the significant credentials and quality of the speaker.

– The motion failed with 2 “ayes” and 6 “nays”.

(5) ABS 2026 Conference (Meckes) –

– The planned location is the “Bambootexas.com” nursery in Hockley, TX, about 30m west of Houston. They have clumpers to be seen and an event place (junkinbarn.com) is next to the nursery.

– Searching for field trip locations within 1-1/2 hours drive from Hockley.

(6) Membership and Web (Meckes) – 

– Current membership remains at 391.

– The registration form for ABS2025 is online.

– Bamboo.org was down recently but was able to be restored after a software update.

(7) Nominations (Ramsay) –

– The terms of ABS-elected At Large Directors #1 (James Clever) and #5 (Autumn Ramsay) will end at the termination of the October ABS Annual General Meeting. The nominating process is underway.

– (Sanders): Bios and images of candidates should appear in the October issue of BAMBOO Magazine.

– Chapter Directors are chosen by their own members. Terms expiring this year: FCC (Pierce), SCC (Banks), SEC (Rogers).

(8) Species Source List (Hollenback, by email) –

– The SSL should be ready by the end of June. Most of the work has been completed.

(9) Advertising (Edwards) –

– No report. (Meckes): Advertisers are renewed annually which should help prevent lapses for now.

(10) Arts/Crafts Competition (Pierce) –

– No report.

(11) ABS Director Job Descriptions (Boeraeve) –

– Boeraeve will send a draft to the Board.

(12) Bamboo Growers’ Co-op Initiative (Ramsay, Edwards) –

– Ramsay created a system of tracking grower “capacity” (production) of timber bamboo poles, and presented the tracking forms, giving hypothetical examples.

– Judge reminded the Board of his original concept of a co-op: establishing a physical, local network of bamboo growers and buyers.

– Growers can meet each other during the annual meeting, even while on the bus to field trips. Michelle Tkach suggested having a dedicated time slot at the annual meeting for a formal “speed dating” event and will work with Autumn and Judge to organize a structure incorporating all ideas.

(13) Privacy Statement for the ABS (Ramsay) –

– Recommended since members’ personal information is stored in ABS computer systems.

– Will send around a draft of the statement created for the growers’ co-op as a template.

(14) BAMBOO Magazine (Sanders) –

– The Summer 2025 issue is ready and includes an article on the scientific bases for BamCore’s construction materials.

– Would like to implement the “Issuu” page-flipping software for the next issue of BAMBOO.

– Sanders and Connor will have an offline discussion about individual issue sales.

– Submit Magazine content to Mark Sanders; articles are always welcome. Sanders himself currently writes about half of the material in each issue.

(15) Chapter Activities –

– LGCC: Held a well-attended 3-day event featuring James Wolf.

– TBSC: The 31st Texas Bamboo Festival is in the early stages of planning.

– PNWC: There was a moso bamboo grooming event at Dain Sansome’s place; a neighbor has a good vivax grove.

– PNWC: This year’s Ned’s Bash fundraiser for the Ned Jaquith Foundation will take place at the Bamboo Garden Nursery near Portland, Oregon on 19 July 2025.

(16) International Activities (Boeraeve) – 

– A request from a potential African conference attendee who wished that the ABS2025 registration fee be waived, will be denied.

– At the European “Bamboo Expo” a committee was set up to evaluate the use of artificial intelligence to guide WBO activities such as research data collection.

– The Dutch Bamboo Society is still active and had a meeting at the Kimmei Nursery.

Next Meetings –

ABS Board: 27 July 2025 via Zoom.

Adjournment: 13:50 PDT.