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Chair Grossman called the meeting to order at 7:09pm.

Welcome and Introductions: Jerry Grossman, Amy Douglass, Les Homan, Doug Heym, Jim Ferris, Jason Mittlestat, Bill Cook, Jim Maki, Mark Bale, Doug Lee, Dean Wilson, Jerry Lambert, Ernie Houghton, Georgia Peterson. 7:26 ' Mike Elenz. 7:47 ' Bill Hasse.

Anti-trust statement was discussed by Grossman.

Meeting agenda was reviewed. Motion to approve agenda by Lee, second by Douglass. Motion passed.

Minutes: Grossman for McNichols passed around minutes from last meeting. Motion by Wilson to approve minutes, second by Homan. Question regarding John Kotar for 50 year award was asked by Houghton. Probably not a big deal, but McNichols will look into. Minutes approved as amended.

Treasurer's Report: Grossman for Pilon passed around the treasurer. Motion by Bale, seconded by Maki to approve the report as presented. Motion carried.

Spring Meeting Report: Wilson discussed details. Substitution for some speakers has been made at the last minute. Grossman will present the speakers. Wilson needs Exec Team members to help with program in the evening. These will be discussion groups led by Prof. McDonnough. Raffle will start during dinner Thursday evening and finish up at lunch Friday.

Membership: Douglass passed out report. Current total is 524. Lamberson and Wilson received the purge list for their respective chapters. The list total is over one-hundred. April 21st, 22nd, and 28th is the National Office phone-a-thon to get purged members back. Lambert mentioned that people could call the national for a payment plan instead of paying in a lump sum. Douglas mentioned that we should work on getting the sub-chapters active again. The Luce-Chippewa-Mackinac sub-chapter recently had a meeting for a 50-year recipient with a short program and 34 people attended. You can do it too!

Awards Chair: Houghton mentioned that he will probably spend the entire $500 of his budget. He has certificates that have not been awarded because the folks have not been at meetings. No nominations have been made for national awards at this time. President nominations are due July 1st. State awards are due September 1st. There was some discussion of the awards display. Where is it? This should be updated and brought out for the fall meeting. Ernie will find it! And he'll determine the cost of updating and bring to the Executive Team.
Policy: Rockwell was not present, but left word with Grossman that the 3 bills in the house concerning the State Forest system should probably not be commented on by MSAF. Cook discussed the 3 bills and the Governor's statement that the State Forest system would be certified by January 1st, 2006. Cook mentioned that a role for SAF would be to let members know what is going on regarding these issues. Perhaps the State Forester could pass info on to SAF for distribution? The role of MSAF in this issue was discussed at some length, including the revival of the Forest Roundtable type thing proposed by the Governor.

Communications: Cook has contacted Casperson's office regarding the legislative tour, but has had no response. Grossman will contact Casperson's representative at tomorrow's meeting. He also sends out short e-mails to the legislature regarding forestry issues and info. He also sends out member notes. Web site gets 15 visitors per day which is a low number, but it is getting use.

CFE Coordinator: Huff is now handling this job and is doing a great job!

CIF Liaison: Homan discussed the activities that the CIF is doing in the Soo. They had three meetings/activities this past year which Homan described in detail.

Michigan Forester: Peterson is looking for reports from the LP and UP Chapters. Grossman mentioned that surveyors may be submitting an article. Peterson is looking into a Web version of the Forester and will forward proposed format to Cook. Hasse discussed historical costs of the Forester. It averages just under $1,000 per issue. Bulk mailing costs are about $200 per year. We've been sending other mailings first class postage because of the lack of timeliness of the bulk mailing. Short term: continue hardcopy and mailings. Long term: continue cost cutting, revenue increases, and the possibility of going electronic.

LP Chapter: Lambert stated that McNichols is the Vice-chair and Tuller is the second Vice-chair. Fall meeting topics: US-Canadian Trade Symposium, Producing Hard Mast, other? Lambert is leaning toward the hard mast idea. Grossman stated that we would still cosponsor the Trade Symposium.

UP Chapter: Next spring meeting may be on beech bark disease, two-lined chestnut borer, old growth designation in early successional forests, etc. UP Chapter is suggesting moving their meeting to the fall, because of weather conditions.

Legislative Outreach: There is no plan for an ice cream social this year; maybe again next year. What about a legislative tour this year? If we miss this year, we should make sure we do something next year. Grossman and Cook will figure something out.

Projects: Forester Directory will be falling off the plate; Cook no longer has time to pursue this. No new news on Family Forest Conference from Grieves.

Adjournment moved by Cook, second by Homan, motion passed.