Annual Meeting 2022

A brief recap of the Annual Meeting held on December 17th, 2022:

• budget
  • The board-approved budget for 2023 was unanimously adopted. Thank you again to Ada for her hard work!
• officers
  • The slate of officers was unanimously re-elected.
• bylaws
  • The organization’s revised bylaws were unanimously approved. Thank you again to Marc and Ernie for your assistance, especially in coordinating efforts with the ProBono Partnership and the legal team from DLA Piper. The new bylaws:
    • Codify relationship with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
    • Clarify membership requirements
    • Clarify board responsibilities
    • Clarify indemnification & financial administration
    • Codify dissolution
• president’s report
  • Organizational changes: we concluded an MoU with the NYS Central Pine Barrens Commission, our partner for the Barrens to Bay Summer Camp; our transition to Square: the transition is ongoing – equipment has been installed and accounts set up, next is training of the front desk volunteers; and we have some changes in board members – we are bidding farewell to Ernie Lewis after many years of service as well as to Anthony Graves, and welcoming back June Champion.
  • Advocacy: we wrote and submitted public comments to the Department of the Interior regarding the state of refuge law enforcement for the entire Long Island Refuge Complex.
  • Summer Camp: Our Barrens-to-the-Bay summer camp, run in conjunction with the Central Pine Barrens Commission, went back to its regular schedule for the summer of 2022 and campers had great fun conducting research and creating art.
• refuge update
  • An update for the Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex was given by Ann Marie Chapman, Visitor Services Manager from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Especially good to note is that Wertheim NWR will be receiving a good chunk of money in the next several years from the infrastructure bill.