Iowa Master Naturalists Board of Directors
Minutes of June 13, 2026, Board Meeting
12:00pm 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 (present), 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 Iowa Master Naturalists google drive in the folder called Board Mtgs > Minutes.
3) Treasurer Reports – Total Checking + Savings value is $6,253.42 for the period March 1st – June 1st. income was $4,642.36, and expenses $1,882.63. Many of the transactions were in tuition for the march IMN class. Future treasurer’s reports will include a category for each transaction.
4) Directors Report – Capstones for the spring class was held May 23rd at Kent Park. Students brought a wonderful variety of projects to benefit the community and enrich our understanding of the environment. Including Iowa City dark sky initiative, invasive species removals, projects increasing the conservation engagement, and educational signage and plantings along trails, improving bird blinds for welcome accessibility to children, examining seed bank in Muscatine County soils, and a detailed survey of mushroom species. Wow!
IMN has confirmed that the fall class will be at the new nature center at Jester Park in Polk County. This class will start on September 19th, with final Capstone presentations on December 5th. Jackson County has expressed interest in a class at the Hurstville Nature Center in the fall 0f 2027.
Elisabeth has been in contact with the Illinois Master Naturalists and the North Dakota Master Naturalists sharing lessons learned. This led into a discussion of how to broaden our footprint, including contacting the ISU extension office for possible state support.
5) New Business – Work on the Summer/Fall Iowa Master Naturalist Newsletter has begun. Ginny confirmed contribution from Amie Adams, author of “the Observer, the life and writings of Bernt Olav Wolden”. Thank you Ginny and Amie! The IMN community is encouraged to submit possible material to: info@ iowamasternaturalists.org.
Discussed the Rochester cemetery near Tipton, Iowa. This cemetery includes a beautiful remnant prairie, which needs volunteers to continue to support.
6) Reminders: Remember to support IMNs mission, and Naturalist Certification through volunteer work, and recording your hours via the IMN website.
7) Round Table Nature Sharing: Connie brought Wild Sumac, describing lemonade recipes and wild peanuts for a nice protein snack. Interesting facts about fireflies were shared by John. Did you know that a group of fireflies is called a Sparkle, that the fireflies luminescent (luciferin) is used for cancer research as bio markers, and that the male fireflies can exhibit extraordinary synchronous flashing.
8) Next Board Meeting – The next Board of Directors meeting will be Saturday, August 22nd @ 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 