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Governing Board
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ESA Governing Board
October 20-21,
2005
Washington, D.C.
Members Present: Nancy Grimm (President), Jerry Melillo (Past-President),
Alan Covich (President-Elect), Gus Shaver (Vice President for Science), Bill
Parton (Vice President for Finance), David Inouye (Secretary), Dee Boersma
(Member at Large), Richard Pouyat (Vice President for Public Affairs), Dennis
Ojima (Member at Large). Carol Brewer (Member at Large) joins the meeting in the
afternoon.
Staff Present:
Katherine McCarter (Executive Director), Cliff Duke (Director of Science),
Elizabeth Biggs (Director of Finance), Sue Silver (Editor), Nadine Lymn
(Director of Public Affairs), Jason Taylor (Director of Education)
Guests:
I. Roll Call & Agenda, beginning at 9:01
A. Adopt Agenda – adopted unanimously
B. Minutes from August Governing Board Meeting – approved unanimously
II. Reports
A. Report of the President (Grimm)
President Grimm and staff drafted a letter for release after the Pennsylvania
court decision about evolution and intelligent design and to be used as
appropriate in other situations.
The Keystone Center (Colorado) has been charged by several Senators to help
move the E.S.A. revision process forward; Barry Noon is one of the 25
facilitators (and is the only ecologist from a non-academic setting). A letter
was sent encouraging the addition of one or two independent ecologists to the
panel.
Board members were encouraged to send letters about the January meeting in
Merida on to colleagues in Latin America who might be interested; registration
is now open. Grimm is also developing a workshop for the Mexico meeting.
The Code of Ethics for the ESA is mostly directed at publication and
certification, and there are probably other areas that need to be considered; a
group of members has been asked to work on this.
ESA established a website to help with ecologists who were victims of
hurricane Katrina, and a rapid response team was set up to respond to press and
policy maker inquiries. There will be a briefing for congressional staff and
Robert Twilley (LSU) will represent ESA to highlight ecological issues related
to reconstruction (e.g., of wetlands).
President Grimm and others spent two hours at NSF prior to the Board meeting
with the new Head of Biological Sciences (Jim Collins) to make a start at
developing a close working relationship.
Grimm has also worked on the upcoming China meeting (1-4 November); there is a
lot of interest and activity there now in the area of sustainability and a
circular economy.
B. Report of the Executive Director (McCarter)
McCarter noted that written staff reports were provided. David Baldwin had to
miss this meeting (the first in many years) and sends his regrets. Jason Taylor
is going to the LTER planning meeting tomorrow to work on collaboration between
SEEDS and LTER. Carol Brewer may be able to join the meeting tomorrow, and
Shahid Naeem is unable to come.
The first advertisement for the new development officer didn’t draw a lot of
applications, but the second advertisement brought in more. Five candidates will
be interviewed next month. Alan Covich, Dee Boersma, and Bill Parton have
volunteered to help with phone interviews of promising candidates. SEEDS, the
regional initiative, and the Frontiers business plan will be focal projects for
the new staff member.
Electronic voting for ESA offices opened last week; this is the first
electronic vote we have done.
The Federation of the Americas will have a business meeting during the Merida
meeting.
C. Education (Taylor)
There is an upcoming field trip next month for 25 students and 4 faculty members to the Sevilleta LTER site. There will also be students going to the Mexico meeting (15 of 35 applicants were selected). A professional development meeting will take place in March. A grant proposal to CCLI (NSF) related to TIEE is being prepared for January, in partnership with Hampshire College. ESA is also collaborating on the digital library project. Jason and Nadine have been working on the regional initiative. A program assessment for SEEDS will begin in a few weeks, with particular attention to tracking previous participants.
D. Administration (Biggs)
2005 fiscal year closed with 9,265 members. In 2006 all subscribing institutions will be getting print + online access to ESA journals (no more print-only option); reception from librarians has been wonderful. 900 institutions in China will be given electronic access to all our journals, as of 17 October. Environment Canada is requesting access for all 17 of their libraries, and other similar kinds of multi-site requests are coming in. The Board is enthusiastic about the idea of pursuing electronic access for ecologists from developing countries.
Michele Horton has been hired as ESA's new Meeting Manager. She has spent the
past 20 years working for non-profits in the meetings field. Final figures are
not in yet for the Montreal meeting, but we will certainly meet revenue targets.
It is likely that next year’s meeting will be much smaller; the number of
symposium proposals was about half that for Montreal. It’s suggested that we
look into pushing back the deadline for symposium proposals (early September is
difficult).
The annual audit will occur early in November.
E. Frontiers (Silver)
Three special issues are coming along: China, paleoecology, and Mexico.
Charlesworth is developing a web site to advertise individual subscriptions for
ESA journals in China. In August Frontiers made a change to 100% recycled paper.
It was suggested that a hurricane-related special issue might be of interest;
apparently Ecological Applications is going to do something like this.
Editor-in-Chief, Silver will investigate.
F. Public Affairs (Lymn)
A hurricane briefing will occur next week on Capitol Hill, along with the official announcement of the rapid response teams (mugs will be given out with the contact information). Annie Drinkard is working on the annual report highlighting 90 years of ESA. The endangered species RRT (Stan Temple, Barry Noon, Virginia Dale) met with Senator Chaffee’s office for two hours last week. Laura Lipps plans a quarterly newsletter about RRT activities.
G. Science (Duke)
Dr. Elizabeth (Bette) Stallman has joined the Science Office as a Program Manager for science (replacing Rhonda Kranz), overseeing the National Park Fellowship program, and air quality workshop. Update on Mexico: received 370 abstracts and will accommodate most of them. 180 applications for the Ford Foundation travel grants; about 2/3 of those will be funded (120; $500 for Mexican students, $1000 for others). 36 applicants for the NSF travel funds and about 30 will be funded. There will be 20 workshops. Support for the meeting has come in from a large variety of sponsors. Bruce Babbitt will open the plenary session.
H. Report of the Vice President for Finance
1. 1st Quarter Financials (McCarter)
We appear to be on track with the planned budget. Estimate for income from the Montreal meeting is $160,000 ($140,000 was budgeted). After the audit is completed we may move additional surplus operating funds to the Townley account.
Board Initiative Funds
The Board has $30,000 for “Board Iinitiative” in the current budget. A proposal was made to utilize these funds for the regional initiative, the Federation of the America’s society presidents to attend the Mexico meeting , and website redesign. In August the Board authorized $5,000 of Millennium Funds for printing the WAMIE report ($2,000) and analyzing the survey of undergraduate education ($3,000). After discussion it was decided to allocate $19,000 for the regional initiative, $1000 for a dinner for the Federation during the Mexico Meeting, and $10,000 for the website redesign effort. In addition the Board allocated the remaining $5600 in committee funds for the website redesign committee. Other funds raised for the Mexico meeting will be used to support the travel of Federation of Americas Presidents to Merida.
2. Investment Update (Parton)
In the last three months we gained about $30,000 from the Townley account ($947,000); these are award funds, life memberships, and Board-designated funds ($300,000). The additional reserve funds will go here soon ($300,000 now at Merrill Lynch). We budget $50,000/yr for the reserve.
III. Discussion/Action Items
A. Audit Committee
A motion is moved, seconded, and approved: If the Audit Committee is
approved by the ESA Council, the three-person committee will be composed of Vice
Presidents and Members at Large (at least one of each). Gus Shaver, Rich Pouyat,
and Dee Boersma (a one-year term) will constitute the committee this year.
B. Report on yesterday’s meeting with NSF (James Collins, Michael Willig, and Joann Roskosk from NSF, Grimm, Covich, Melillo and Shaver from the Board, and Duke, Taylor, McCarter, and Lymn from the staff, attended the two-hour meeting. ESA would like to be a conduit to the ecological community, and provide advice as requested. We will produce a prospectus outlining ways in which we think we can assist NSF.
C. Regional Initiative
Gulf Coast will be the first region, because of interest in recent ecological
damage from hurricanes. A tentative committee and meeting date have been set
(Baton Rouge in December). Discussion of whether this is the right region to
start with, how many regions there should be in all, and how many we can work on
simultaneously. By May, we want to have a timeline, list of ideas. ESA should
solicit Chapters to help with this effort. A motion is moved, seconded, and
approved: ESA will continue with the process as started, focusing on the Gulf
Coast. ESA will also appoint an ad-hoc committee to develop a focused national
perspective. Melillo agrees to chair the Board committee. President Grimm, will
appoint the other members.
D. Public Affairs Program Review (Lymn, Pouyat)
Vice President for Public Affairs Pouyat and Director of Public Affairs Lymn
reviewed the history of the ESA’s Public Affairs Committee: established in 1954,
was the Society’s first foray into the policy arena. By 1960s this activity was
recognized as valuable, as was the need to call on the membership for expertise.
In the 1970s the PAC pushed for a national policy on population, formation of a
Council of Ecological Advisors in the Executive Office, and recommended that the
ESA produce position papers. 1980s: PAC recommended establishment of a corporate
award, the society hired its first staff person (half-time, Public Affairs
Director), and the Society worked closely with advocacy groups (e.g., Sierra
Club, NRDC, WWF). 1990s: PAC recommended establishment of a public plenary at
annual meetings, members began to participate in Hill visits to advocate for
science founding.
Staff history: 1983 Elliott Norse begins half-time position, established an
Ecological Information Network, wrote a Bulletin column (From the Washington
Office), and advocates positions on behalf of the Society until 1987.
1987 – 1993, Marge Holland was full-time Public Affairs Director, and the
Society moved from an advocacy role to a facilitator role.
1995 – present: Nadine has been PAO Director.
Milestones and Expansion
1980s: Ecological Information Network, ESA Newsletter, Biotech Hill briefing
1990s: Press operations commence, ESA testimony on wetlands; Madison meeting
in 1993 attracts local TV station (downside – ESA member flee when approached by
PAO staff to be interviewed). Multiple, in-depth news releases (Good Morning
America calls). PAO position commences; Science and Environmental Policy
updates, media training and policy sessions during Snowbird meeting, commence
annual analysis of President’s budget proposal for AAAS’ biological sciences
chapter. Half-time education position is created. First ESA congressional fellow
(Pouyat) serves Patrick Moynihan. ESA starts participating in Congressional
Visits Day. First series of congressional meetings with ESA Board members. Press
releases on ESA journals commence. ESA starts sponsoring science booth at Hill
exhibition. Media contacts reaches 500. Community outreach event during the
annual meeting. Public plenary added to the annual meeting. Office begins
averaging three Hill briefings/year.
2000s: Education position becomes full-time. ESA co-sponsors two town hall
meetings (science and technology) for the first time. 20 Hill and Executive
Branch meetings/year. Biological Ecological Sciences Coalition established.
Separate Education Office is created. Boost in international media coverage. ESA
creates policy analyst position. Hill staffer is hosted at the annual meeting.
Second ESA Congressional Fellow serves Senator Harkin (2003-04). Office begins
averaging 10 ESA statements/letters per year. Spearheaded peer-review statement
endorsed by 14 other societies. Launched Rapid Response Teams. 1344 media hits
in one month for April Ecology press release.
Trends in ESA Public Affairs
Early 80s focused on environmental policy together with advocacy groups
Late 80s shifted toward facilitator role and began also to address science
funding; served as Society’s presence in DC
90s, creation of ESA Headquarters freed PAO up to focus more on policy/media
per se
Evolving PAC – PAO relationships
More education component in the late 90s
Teaming up with other science organizations with lots of attention to science
funding
More joint efforts with Science Office
Hill activities standard part of activities
Early 2000s greater devotion to environmental policy with Policy Analyst
position and Rapid Response Teams.
Current portfolio
Mission: to work with media to convey ecological knowledge, inform national
environmental policy, foster federal support for ecology research and education
Media outreach (Annie Drinkard): press releases, media inquiries, services to
ESA members, such as communications training
Federal support of ecology, including research and education
Budget analysis
Congressional visits (spring and fall)
Participate in coalitions (USGS, NSF, Biological Ecological Sciences)
Environmental and science policy (Laura Lipps)
Policy News, Action Alerts, position statements, Hill briefings, RRTs
Public Affairs Committee
Review abstracts for media outreach
Public plenary at the annual meeting
Review ESA statements and papers
Participate in Hill visits for science funding
Proposed new PAC initiatives
Gulf Coast Regional Initiative
International (maybe something for the section to do)
PAC “slots”: student, industry, Mexican, Canadian
Congressional Fellow (2-year intervals)
Community outreach at the annual meeting
EHRC/PAC event?
Prominent ESA member speaks at a public forum
Rethink the public plenary
Public policy awards
Member, policy maker, media
ESA Handbook
Joint efforts with other committees?
Encyclopedia of analogies and metaphors (begin with an evening session)
After the presentation, the Board discussed some ideas for future directions. The idea of a summer camp for Congressional staff members was brought up; Melillo was involved in such a program, and OTS had one for tropical ecology. The Board also discussed the AAAS Congressional Fellow program (how often, how to fund). Another suggestion was the idea of an award for a governmental entity or member who has been supportive of responsible use of science in decision making.
The PAC will present some ideas about how to streamline the process of
creating position papers.
The International Relations Committee should be reconstituted and reactivated.
E. Biodiversity Position Statement
Both position statements (can be initiated by staff members) and position
papers (written by ESA members) must be approved by the Board. Position papers
are also reviewed by the PAC. The Board asked David Hooper to develop a response
to the long article in Issues in Ecology (#4, 1999) that caused some controversy
(e.g., letters in the Bulletin), on Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This
position statement is unusual because it was the author who proposed it. It’s
been reviewed and seems to present a consensus view on the topic. A motion is
moved, seconded, and approved: The Board approves the position statement on
“Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem processes: Implications for ecosystem
management” (Hooper et al.) as recommended by the Public Affairs Committee.
F. Invasive Species Position Paper
A motion is moved, seconded, and then tabled: The Board approves the position
paper on “Biological Invasions: Recommendations for U.S. Policy and Management”
(Lodge et al.), as recommended by the Public Affairs Committee. Pouyat is asked
to convey a variety of comments from the Board back to the authors. Revisions
will be distributed by e-mail, and the Board will then vote.
G. Update on Pending New Position Statements (Lymn)
Nothing new on these yet, but work will begin again soon.
H. Carbon Free Meetings
The Meetings Committee asked the Board to endorse an optional carbon offset
activity. Annual Meeting registrants would be invited to calculate the carbon
emissions produced when they flew or drove to the annual meeting and the
equivalent dollar cost to offset these emissions. They would be asked to make a
voluntary donation to offset the emissions to organizations verified as
“credible and secure”. The Meetings Committee is asked to do some research into
organizations that ESA would be willing to list on its web site as appropriate
places to make donations to offset carbon dioxide generation associated with
travel to the annual meeting and to report back to the Governing Board by March,
2006.
IV. Executive Session
III . Discussion and Action continued
I. Visions Recommendations Review
1. The broad goal of communicating the importance of ecological science has
focused on the regional outreach efforts.
2. The development of international outreach and communication is connected
with electronic publication of ESA journals, Frontiers and the Bulletin.
3. Enhancement of the website with more updated information will also help
achieve both goals. Web site collaboratories discussed at NSF would also benefit
these priorities.
4. Data-sharing goals are very broadly distributed and ESA needs to coordinate
activities with NEON, NCEAS. We can continue to develop strong links with NEON
planning
5. Consider how to develop panel discussions at upcoming annual meetings to
continue to highlight.
6. Communicating with staffers via “summer camp” (5.3) and associated
internships, IGERT Fellow from UC Davis, contact recipients of agency
fellowships (e.g., NOAA). Develop a list of internships available to students.
ESA did have a one-day excursion.
7. These internships could complement the planning of AAAS Congressional
Fellows.
8. In consideration of 1.5: Translate ESA Issues, (3 done, 3 more this year),
etc. into other languages and support students to participate in international
events such as the Merida meeting, encourage the ILTER activities for students
to participate in international activities.
9. British Ecological Society has a long-term interest in African activities
that might be related to ESA participants. Some international exchange? Contact
John Lawton to see if BES is interested. Carol Brewer is invited into a BES
meeting to discuss international education.
10. We have a full list of goals and priorities; a periodic fall review of the
list is needed to keep on track and to integrate milestones to measure progress
on achieving results. What progress have we made? What new ideas for changing
the list? Changing the priorities? Develop the SUMMARY for publication in
Frontiers
11. ESA was on a 3-year Strategic Plan that incorporates ALL components of the
membership. We need to develop mechanisms for reaching out to a more diverse
array of sources. Visions List is not the same as a Strategic Plan but a request
to the Board. Perhaps every 5 years there needs to be a new Visions Committee.
12. Some of the aspects covered in Visions List are outside the ESA’s direct
control.
We need to focus on the 3 major priorities that are within ESA’s direct
control.
13. The Board agreed that a five-year time frame seems appropriate for review,
progress assessment, etc.
J. Website Plan (Biggs)
ESA Director of Finance Biggs described the plan for the website review:
1.Form a representative committee: Goal is to have ESA members to work with
staff to review re-design by May, 2006.
2. What “functions” are needed? Stream-line functions such as Board calendar
and coordination. Shahid Naeem is interested in helping with outlining the
overall design and other members were suggested for inclusion on the committee.
3. Highlighting the RRT and the letters to congressional contacts would be
helpful (in responding and coordinating responses (e.g. to Endangered Species
Act).
4. Some currently available staff from outside ESA might be brought into the
committee) to consider how information should be organized. Define what needs to
be included.
5. Has AIBS developed a working group to develop web sites that is
effective. See if AIBS staff might be interested
6. Some NCEAS contacts would be useful to consult with. Jim Reichman might
be willing to help or to provide someone from his staff
We want a highly effect website and realize that the “design” will be
personal. It needs to be used as a modern web site. The design needs to be
widely understood by members and thus the committee needs to have wide
representation.
K. Microbial Ecology Petition
The Board reviewed a petition to establish a Microbial Ecology Petition. The Board is requested to approve the proposal and then have the proposal discussed and approved by the Council by e-mail so that the new section could participate in the Memphis meeting.
The section appears to have a strong program and likely will grow rapidly. The sections and chapters are self-funded. They provide some guidance to the program committee by endorsing proposals for symposia.
The motion was made and unanimously adopted to recommend establishment of the Microbial Ecology Section to the ESA Council.
The Board noted in additional discussion that the ESA By Laws provide a mechanism to create or to disband sections and chapters. The regionalization plans will likely stimulate interest in regional activities.
L. Publications Issues
1. Pay-Per-View / “Mini” Subscriptions
ESA presented a proposal to establish a “pay-per-view” system for ESA
journals, and “mini” subscriptions (access to a number of ESA articles per
year.) The costs need to reflect a strategic view of overall subscription rates
and recruit new members from developing countries.
The Board moved to go forward to establish a fee structure for a pay-for-view and mini-subscription. The approval was unanimous.
The Board asked the VP for Science Shaver to contact the Publications Committee and to propose a plan for a forward-looking review regarding how our journals will evolve in the future.
Issues such as ongoing discussions of open access, complete costs of publication, and tracking what other societies are doing. The issues associated with professional societies’ publications and open access cut across a large number of groups. In the near-term we should evaluate what various groups (e.g. ASLO’s options to authors for them to pay for open access) are currently doing. The last major review of publications was in 2000. Jim Reichman will be contacted to prepare a proposal for planning a long-term program review and to outline the major issues.
The Board briefly discussed the “open access publishing” debate. Sue Silver has a report that covers the costs and benefits (e.g. PLOS). There is not currently a general model that works and is sustainable. Small steps are being taken by various groups and need to be examined and tracked. The costs for these open access journals is a very wide discussion. Currently NSF has no policy on open access publishing. We are in a waiting period during which more data on costs and sources of funding will be developed by NSF and many other groups. It is important to keep up and avoid any “surprises” with decisions as they are made.
2. Help for non-English speaking authors.
David Baldwin had suggested that previously authors submitting to ESA journals have sought help from English-speaking colleagues. A Call for Volunteers in the Bulletin was also mentioned as one way to compile a list of helpers as well as list of other means to advise authors. A broader connection by email, on ECOLOG, and the Web Site could be explored.
M. New Business
The Board discussed a rumored policy at NSF regarding grant awards. ESA will investigate and take appropriate action.
Meeting adjourned.
