MN SCB Polls 2013 Business Meeting Attendees

The 2013 MN SCB Annual Meeting, Conservation in the Anthropocene, included a stimulating symposium, contributed talks, a closing speaker, a poster session and social, and the annual Chapter Business Meeting.  Besides highlighting aspects of the work this past year, we asked the group of 32 Business Meeting attendees to answer several questions.  Here is a brief summary of the responses with a few added thoughts.

Who was at the 2013 Chapter Meeting?

Half Students, Half Professionals

MN SCB continues to attract a great mix of students and professionals.  The students are almost completely made up of graduate students (I think there was just 1 undergraduate this year).  The professionals are mostly from state agencies (principally DNR), followed by NGOs.  There are very few professors/research associates from academia. 

Potential areas for increased outreach and recruitment:

Professionals:  Professors and other academic researchers; professionals from federal agencies and local units of government

Students: should we be recruiting more undergraduates?

 

 

Mostly Newbies plus a Core of Folks with Many Years of Chapter Involvement

The 2013 meeting attendees were mostly new to MN SCB.  The meeting continued the trend of high attendee turnover between MN SCB annual meetings.  Fifty-six percent of the meeting attendees were new to MN SCB in the last year.  There is still a core group of about one-third of the attendees that have been involved in MN SCB for more than three years.   

Over Half of the Attendees have Never Been SCB Members

Less than twenty percent of meeting attendees are currently members of our chapter’s parent organization, the Society for Conservation Biology.  While this seems low it was encouraging to see that almost half of the meeting attendees have had a membership with SCB at some time. 

SCB Chapter bylaws for all chapters actually say that all chapter members must be members of the SCB also.  This has requirement has been contentious ever since it was established in the last 5-8 years.  In fact it has not been enforced.  Other approaches are being considered by SCB’s Chapters Committee.

What Are the Primary Activities that MN SCB Should Engage Minnesota’s Community of Conservation Scientists and Practitioners in?

The thirty-two Chapter Meeting attendees were asked to indicate the top three activities (in rank order) that they think MN SCB should focus on.  Of the eight activities listed, four stood out from the others:

1)     Continue to organize annual meetings

2)     Engage in conservation policy issues and advocacy

3)     Host lectures paired with social/networking events

4)     Convene working groups on critical conservation science issues

These results were largely affirming of activities that the chapter has been engaged in the last two to five years.  It is no surprise that attendees at the annual meeting ranked annual meetings as the highest priority.  But it was good to hear that hosting lectures paired with social/networking events ranked in the top three.  That is one of the main activities that the chapter has done more of in the last two years, hosting 3-4 such events per year.  Engagement in conservation policy issues ranked high in the past and again this year.  The times that the chapter has been most engaged in policy issues actually involved small work groups.  The chapter’s Conservation Biology-based recommendations on the 2008 U.S. Farm Bill are a case in point.  I think this idea of convening working groups on critical conservation science issues merits serious consideration by the chapter and its membership.  What are some prime candidate issues that a MN SCB-led working group could make a valuable contribution to?

Activities that ranked much lower included supporting public conservation education, publishing an e-newsletter, and facilitating volunteer conservation and restoration field opportunities.  The Board has discussed doing more on each of these, so this was very helpful input to help consider putting these ideas on the back burner.

Ratings of Eight Activities that MN SCB Could Engage Minnesota’s Community of Conservation Scientists and Practitioners In

 

Respectfully submitted,

 Andy Holdsworth

Past, Past President