Iowa Master Naturalists Board of Directors
Minutes of August 15, 2025, Board Meeting
12:00 pm at the Cedar Rapids Public Library
1) Roll Call
Board: Ginny Paulson, Chair (present)
Justin Voss, Vice Chair (present)
Anita Hutton, Treasurer (absent)
Ben Rowold (present)
Steve Keane, Secretary (present)
Connie Aldridge (present)
John Donner (present)
Dylan Nielsen (present)
Executive Director: Elisabeth Swain (present)
Advisors: Jean Prior (absent), Lynette Seigley (present), Alida Selim, Letia Blanco, John Pearson
2) Minutes from the previous meeting – The most recent minutes were approved and are on our website: https://iowamasternaturalists.org/Board-Minutes/ Older minutes are archived on the google drive in the folder called Board of Directors Meetings.
3) Treasurer Reports – Total Checking + Savings value is $3,306.78. For the period April 16 – August 1st, income of $3968.5, and expenses of $1,577.81. Our insurance premium was a major expense. A $250 donation was received from Mike Schmidt, a graduate of the most recent IMN class; to be reflected in the next report.
4) Directors Report – The recently completed course in Ames was a great success! Elisabeth summarized an impressive list of capstone projects that highlighted each student’s unique skills and interests. Polk, Story and Hamilton counties have fantastic advocates for nature. Thanks of course to Elisabeth, with wonderful support from John, Ben, Steve, and Dylan.
The fall class will run from September 20 through December 6th, and will be held at the Wickiup Hill Learning Center, just north of Cedar Rapids. Fliers were routed to board members who live in Linn County to post and advertise the class.
Potential use of a new Volunteer Reporting Tool “NatureConnect” was discussed. A Zoom meeting will be held with the NatureConnect authors later in August to address board members’ questions.
The Iowa Master Naturalists will have a table at Pelican Fest, to be held August 24th from 11AM – 4pm at the Hawkeye Wildlife Arear; 2564 Amana Rd NW, Swisher IA. There will be pelican viewing, educational talks on several subjects, and tables staffed by local nature organizations.
5) By-Laws Review –The Board unanimously approved our new Iowa Master Naturalists Code of Ethics.
6) New Business – There is a lot of excitement aroundGinny’s plans for a new Iowa Master Naturalist Newsletter! She passed out an example of a quarterly newsletter that she may use as a template for IMNs own newsletter, as well as her own Draft Plan. Connie, Dylan and Elisabeth offered to support Ginny’s startup of a committee to flush out the newsletter details. In the meantime, by October 1st, we need to decide on a name for the letter – so your ideas are desired! Preliminary plan is to publish the newsletter twice a year; a Winter/Spring edition and then Summer/Fall edition. Initial publication in February 2026.
7) Reminders: Remember to support IMNs mission, and Naturalist Certification through volunteer work, and recording your hours via the IMN website.
8) Round Table Nature Sharing – John described his visit to NE Iowa, and fly fishing for trout on a beautiful, spring feed Coldwater creek. All located in located in the Cold Water Spring Nature Preserve, near Decorah. Many would like Dylan’s foraging skills as he was able to identify plants close to his home in Ames, including hazelnut bushes, persimmon fruit trees, chanterelle and chicken of the woods mushroom. Connie participated in the Iowa Bumble Bee Atlas. After taking classes, she took surveys of wildflowers along the roadside; recording and photographing her Bumble Bee finds and then submitting them to a database. This is important work as over ¼ of the 46 different Bumble Bee species are threatened with extinction. Steve described his recent backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail from Pawling NY to Becket, MA. He passed the Dover Oak, the largest Oak tree on the trail at over 22 feet in circumference and 300 years old. It was near dusk when Justin was fortunate to see a Bobcat while biking near ‘Mt. Trashmore’ in Cedar Rapids. Justin is also raising Monarch and Swallowtail butterflies and has enjoyed watching Goldfinches feast on Sunflower seeds. During her trip to New Mexico, Ginny had the awesome experience of seeing a Cougar and its cubs along a mountain path. They were a tawny/orange color, and Ginny had to make room to let them pass. Ben mentioned being attacked by a wild bluebird. Yet, impressively he fledged 199 bluebirds this year, and after counting 970 since 2016!! Elisabeth promised a future share after her short-course on bears to be held in Minnesota’s boundary waters.
9) Next Board Meeting – The next Board of Directors meeting will be Friday, December 12th @ 12:00pm, at the Coralville Public Library.
Respectfully submitted,
Steven T. Keane, Secretary
IMN Board of Directors
5464 Lackender Ave SW
Riverside IA 52327
Iowa Master Naturalists 