Minutes of August 22, 2026, Board Meeting
12:00pm Coralville Public Library
1) Roll Call
Board: Ginny Paulson, Chair (present)
Justin Voss, Vice Chair (absent)
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)
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 $5,747.88. For the period June 3rd –August 3rd, income was $26.55, and expenses $532.20, of which $500 was to Kent Park for hosting the spring class.
4) Directors Report – The fall class is scheduled to be held at the new nature center at Jester Park in Polk County. This class will start on September 19th, with final Capstones on December 5th. Elisabeth described exciting class topics. Jackson County has expressed interest in a class at the Hurstville Nature Center in the fall of 2027. The spring 2027 class will likely be in the IC/CR corridor. IMN will have a table at Pelican Fest near Swisher on August 30.
5) New Business – The Summer/Fall Iowa Master Naturalist Newsletter was issued! Thank you to all the expert contributors for their outstanding articles, and of course Ginny for pulling it all together. The Newsletter keeps upping the ante with insightful content.
The IMN board passed a resolution to trial ‘Constant Contact’ as an additional distribution medium for our Newsletter. Constant Contact could allow IMN to determine which Newsletter articles are accessed, assist in the marketing of the Newsletter, and simplify distribution. A final go/no-go decision will be made at the December board meeting.
6) Reminders & upcoming events:
August 30th Iowa City Bird Club Pelican fest at the Hawkeye Wildlife Management Area. 2564 Amana Road NW, Swisher, from 11am to 4pm.
October 25th Roadside cleanup. Meet at the Amana Post office. Details to be forwarded.
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 treated us with an Autumn Olive cake! Quite tasty, with a wonderful balance with the trees red berries. Dylan described the Iowa DOTs’ bridge aesthetic program. Previously unknown to many in attendance; bridges along major highways in the state have nature imprints, such as Monarch Butterflies. Keep an eye out. While visting New Orleans, Dylan also had the opportunity to take a Honey Creek Swamp tour, and described the invasive apple snail, on Swamp millets. During a whale watching tour, John had the rare experience of finding his boat in the middle of a large pod of breaching Humpback whales. AKA Whale Soup.
Steve relayed a bit of encouraging news as the Eastern Monarch Butterfly population has shown a slight increase over the past 2 years. It is butterfly migration season, and Iowa in the path of almost 40% of all Monarchs as they head to winter in Mexico. Monarch populations are still well below historical levels. And work remains to add them to the endangered species list. Lynette described the Iowa’s only native Citrus, the Northern Prickly Ash tree, also known as the Toothache tree for its numbing effect on mouth pain. We also learned about the Scissor Grinder Cicada and the large Walkers Cicada from Ben. Elisabeth noted that after three seasons, her prairie planting is finally looking like a prairie.
Fun fact: A genus of rare, amphibious tetrapod fossils is named Whatcheeria. Which, of course, honors the town, What Cheer, Iowa, near where they were discovered
8) Next Board Meeting – The next Board of Directors meeting will be Saturday, December 12th, at 12:00pm, in the Cedar Rapids public library.
Respectfully submitted,
Steven T. Keane, Secretary
IMN Board of Directors
5464 Lackender Ave SW
Riverside IA 52327
Iowa Master Naturalists 