President's Message for May 2013

Spring is officially here and with it flowers and verdant green beginning to show on all our trees and fields. As the days become warmer it is a great time to get out on our farm’s trails for close look at nature in its finest!  We can thank our 1^st VP Frank Parker for organizing all our member volunteers for last month’s Spring Farm Clean Up, which was a great success. Thanks to all our volunteers that turned out for the day, our Conservation Farm is looking very good going into summer. On the heels of the clean up, we celebrated EARTH DAY last Saturday April 20^th, and again our members turned out to support the event. The weather was great, and the addition of live “bluegrass music” from the group “We Don’t Know (our name) Yet” was enjoyed by all that came out for the event.

Our chapter continues to grow in its membership (now over 1,000 members), and to mature as a professional conservation organization. To this end our Advanced Planning and Finance Committee and your Board of Governors have developed a proposed amendment to the Chapter’s By-Laws that creates a “Capital Fund” devoted to maintaining our Chapter’s facilities. If adopted by the membership, this account will help to bring fiscal balance to our Chapter, and ensure that funds are available to replace, maintain, and repair our recreational facilities in the very best condition for the benefit of all our members’ use and enjoyment. Our growth as a Chapter does not come without a cost, so your Board of Governors is also recommending a modest increase in membership fees to offset the ever increasing expense of running our Chapter.

Please take a close look at the article in this month's newsletter that describes the proposed By-Laws amendment and the proposed increase in membership fees. These measures will be voted on by the Chapter’s membership at the May 15^th monthly dinner meeting, which you will not want to miss! READ TEXT OF BYLAWS CHANGE HERE

In the meantime, get out on the farm with your family and enjoy all the wonders that spring offers us in rural Maryland.

Steven Swartz, BCC-IWLA President