Yeah. All right, let's why don't we get started at seven o'clock and unfortunately due to technical difficulties we don't have anyone on zoom watching at home but we are recording and we'll make that recording available to them after the fact so thank you to those of you who are here tonight. I'm Lori Poacher I'm the VP of your county Audubon. Before we get to my program just a couple of events that your county has that YCA has coming up. We practice this for hours there we go. Okay. So first up is our 2023 burden challenge and this year this weekend actually will be out trying to see many birds as possible in a 24 hour period that is our challenge. And this year we're fundraising on behalf of the main young burgers club, which was founded by your county Audubon in 2016. So we're looking to raise money to support the club's efforts expand our membership hopefully to do a better job reaching underserved communities so we'd like to invite everyone here to donate if you haven't want to aim your phone at that your code there's also a couple of sheets in the back that you can take home that'll take you to the website. So if you want to do an online donation and just a reminder that no donations to small literally every dollar helps we're closing in on our on our fundraising goal we're looking to raise $5,000 and we're at about 4300 as of today. What else are weekly bird walks by weekly bird walks are back so they started last week so they will resume on May 27 and then run every other Saturday through August 5. So I'm right here at loud on farm 730 in the morning but space is limited and pre registration is required so I will direct you to your county Audubon dot org for details and to read to register for that. And then on May 20 next Saturday, the beach plum farm eco fest is being held that's in a gun quit right downtown, just north of downtown at beach plum farm and we will be participating there that should be a fun event and again there's more details on our website. And then in June, our next program is on Tuesday, June 20 that is at 7pm right here, there is no zoom streaming for that program that's live in person only and pre registration again is required. That one's called birds of prey are talented friends very funny title that's being presented by the Center for wildlife and they're bringing some of their wildlife ambassadors long so that's always a fun program. And for those who aren't familiar CFW has treated over 50,000 injured and orphaned wild animals and presented programming to thousands and thousands of community members over the years so should be a great program definitely family friendly so head on over to your county Audubon dot org to sign up for that. That program is also going to be preceded by our brief annual meeting on June 20. At that meeting will be seeking our members approval for our slate of officers and directors, as well as our revised by laws so again details can be found at your county Audubon dot org encourage everyone to take a look and give us any feedback to have. So that's enough for me so let's get this nice program. We are delighted to have Anna seagull with us tonight. Anna is a climate justice activist, a high school student and an active member of me and bird club. She's also the advocacy director of main youth action, a core member of main youth for climate justice and serves on her towns climate action task force. So she's here tonight as the outreach lead for the 30 year bird project, which is working to answer the question of what role means nearly 10 million acres of commercial forest can play in conservation so without further ado, here is Anna. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being here. I'm super excited to be here before we begin. I want to acknowledge that we are doing this work on wabunaki land and all the work with 30 year bird project. I've been doing is on wabunaki land and so is your county Audubon. And so there will also be a question period at the end of this presentation. So, if you so same questions for the end would be excellent. But I thank you for the lovely introduction. I also just want to introduce myself a little bit more. So I am a high school student, I go to main food school in Portland, and I live in the greater Portland area, and I am both very interested in birds and climate. And those two things come together in 30 year bird project, looking at how the abundance and diversity of birds in more of a main is affected by forestry, but because two separate studies were conducted 30 years ago. And in the 2020, so like 2020, 2021, 2022, then it's climate change obviously changed me and those forests in that 30 year period and forest practices also changed. So, how is all this affected birds, what does this mean for conservation, what does this mean for ecology, that's what we're trying to find out. So I'm working on this project because of one of the principal investigators who's listed here. This little list is the principal investigators, the two field crew leads for the 2020 project, which will talk about more later, and myself. I was contacted by PhD ecologist Dr. John Hagan. He said, hey Anna, it is rare to find a high school student who wants to be a conservation or an apologist. And I said, yes, please. So he invited me to spend a week up there, five hours north, the last two hours being on just dirt roads, middle of nowhere, in this logging area, and to sweep in some old logging camping vans and wake up at 4am to look at birds. It was awesome. And so that was, that was what I did for a week two summers ago and that was basically just a field trip I was just kind of like helping out with plant surveys and things like that. And then last summer, he asked me to do that more work as the outreach lead, and kind of dig in a little bit because the research is for undergraduates and graduate students, but he created this opportunity for me to create presentations like this and write articles. And so that's why I'm here today. If you are interested in kind of taking this home with you, beyond the recording of the presentation, which will be made available. The October issue of main magazine also has an article written by myself about the 30 year bird project. And that is the mainers of the year issue so it's a, it's one that a lot of people have, because that is looked forward to addition. All right, so that's little introduction, who I am, how I got involved. And I also just want to flag that my involvement in this is due to intergenerational collaboration. That is something that is so unique about this project. Not only has it spanned 30 years from 1990s, the 20s, but also the spanned many generations high school student myself, the undergrad and graduate students, then the older folks, the principal investigators who were the original field crew 30 years ago. All right, so the 30 year project. Why start this 30 years ago, because the reasons that the project occurred 30 years ago. And I say today, even though the research part is over, but referring to the 2020 section I'm going to say today, why started 30 years ago was for a few reasons. One is the big New England hole. If you look at maps of Maine, you'll see that there's an area where there's pretty much nothing. It's really cool and it's pretty unique in this area, where you'll throw these highways and then there's a big blank space. That is these 10 million acres of logging forest. And people wondering what happens up there, what lives there what breeds there, and who's using the area and what is productivity look like. And then clear cutting was a big issue in 1990s there was a lot of chocolate clear cutting, were they biological deserts. Is this safe. Is this something that we should be doing this picture is a place called rather much clear cut in pictures like this people found barely really alarming. And then also in 1990s was a spruce butter worm outbreaks, which also changed the ecology of the region and also prompted more questions about what was going on up here. And so this is what why this is started, and this is the big hole that I was referring to. So you can see that there is a highway coming down from the left from Canada, one that goes across to Bangor and then one that goes up and cuts off into New Brunswick. And then above that is the hole. There is not much in the pin rack enough road is where that logging camp I referred to was those are those little logging houses that we stayed in there on the Golden Road, which is a place where they take the logging trucks, it is covered in shale, it destroys trucks be very careful if you decide to go birding up there. The golden road is a little treacherous. But so the massive clear cuts in the 1980s were due to a blood worm outbreak, they needed to cut down as many things as possible, so they could use the wood before it was destroyed by this spruce bedroom. And so this lot of commercial forestry in northern Maine, and there was a lot of spruce bedroom which means that there was a lot of clear cuts, and this people found really concerning. And this is really interesting because not only is it a whole in terms of roads, but it's also whole in terms of life and human impact. Yes, there's forestry. That's something we're talking about so it's not necessarily a bad thing for sure doesn't immediately mean clear cut clear cut doesn't immediately need that. But the human impact here, it's a whole three roads but it's also whole of life. This is, this is a light pollution map. This is photos of some of the forestry that happens the people who are working this land or warehouser land best and Appalachian Mountain Club does some forestry as well on our lands. And there's a few other companies all that we had to work with me or would do this study because we had to gain access to the land. So in partnership. This is a picture of the Golden Road that we would drive in on. And also why this study happened 30 years ago is because they were these alarming reports of massive bird declines, which almost seems like how we talk about this all the time like everything's dying. But this was part of this first wave of think of like Bill in the cave in the end of nature like his like one of the first books about climate change. People were kind of thinking about this for the first time on this grand scale, and how frightening that was in a big focus was there was this decline in birds that migrate to and from neotropics. Largely because of forestry in the Amazon. The question was, if we could help on our end, if we when they come here. How can we benefit them because they're not only neotropics, but also breeding here and breeding is where we gain population. So that's super, super important. And this is this heightened conservation concern. It was replicated 30 years later. So the original study, what the original study found is that clear cuts are not ecological deserts. It was, it was actually really interesting and kind of contentious conclusion, saying that it's not necessarily bad to clear cuts. It's not that it's empty waste land, it's still habitat. It's a different kind of habitat. And it's not that we can have clear cuts. It's not it's just that we can't have all clear cuts, just like we can't have all old growth forest. You probably know this from anecdotes by ecology in California and Australia, but you, but you sometimes you need natural degradation of land like wildfires for to be healthy. So you can have all growth, you can have all clear cuts. What the original study found is that you need an healthy balance of forest in all levels of succession. And that's not everyone loves conclusion because there was a lot of like anti clear cut activism, which is understandable, because again, can't have everything be a clear cut. But that sort of grassland, so to speak, even though it's artificially created supports a lot of birds with so does old growth and so does everything in between. So that was the conclusion then, why do this all over again, why replicate the study and do all the point counts at 4am and hire folks and get people up to the Golden Grove. The same conservation concern is still here, because of the 3 billion bird report, because that area of me, the great big hole was marked as an IDA bird life and important important bird and biodiversity area, because forestry practices have changed in the last 30 years, because of climate change, everything is slightly different. And those small bubbles kind of massive impacts for ecology. So the shifting forestry practices because of that kind of anti clear cut push, things went to partial cutting. So instead these great swaths of land, it was lines, it's like line of no trees, line of trees, line of no trees. And that kind of change how much old growth and clear cut there is also climate changes pushing more northern species of trees farther more that will change the ecology up here. So that's why we replicate the study. Why do this all over again. And just any, I remember like where they were when they heard about the 3 billion birds paper. Like, to me this is a very distinct memory that it was so striking I was on a birdwalk. And so I pulled out their phone and read a headline and the entire group side, but because we all knew it, we all seen every, every spring migrations and the way it used to be, it's not blooming right. You know, there isn't these sorts of insects and these are these sorts of birds. But this report was for climate activists and analogous support is that October 2018 into governmental panel climate change report which talked about the threshold of emissions. And it's a similar kind of we need to take action this way as soon as possible. And that's really what prompted the replication of the study. So, trying to answer how foresters and landowners could change their practices to protect her. It's how to unite economy and environment conservation corporation. So that's the great background clear cut. And that's what it looks like now. So this is clear cutting. And this is partial cutting. Again, you would say that this looks healthier. And that's that we argued but it's, it's good to have a mix of everything. Some more comparisons. So this is how things were in 1992. There was 40% younger forest, 20% mid age forest 40% mature forest. Now, it is the complete opposite. We have very low young forest 20% a lot of mid age forest 60% and more mature forest, less mature forest but 20%. And that is also because of shifting forestry practices, we're doing less old growth cutting and letting things grow a little more but old growth is still disappearing and letting the mid age things grow. And then it flux again, likely like this, this will kind of just be a cycle, but this change in 30 years is quite significant. And it means that we don't quite have as many age classes as we once did, because the 1992 line is flatter. And this one is a lot more sloped, which means that we're not keeping a level amount of age classes so they're so age class is a different kind of habitat you think about that way. Some birds only want mature forest, some birds only want younger forest. And if there's less of that, if there's less of an age class they have less habitat. So these are the big questions I was referring to. How have these bird populations changed looking at population maps 1990s to now. And how can we make this into applied science. This is why this project is so interesting. This isn't going to be a paper that disappears into an ivory tower lockbox this is science that could affect reveal policy and real change in real practices for conservation, which is super interesting and part of the reason I wanted to be involved. So here's some more comparison maps. This is the study area in the 90s. And these little squares are like segments of forest. Like that, the, like the timber companies have these like stand maps and stand maps show what kinds of trees are in different areas, these maps are just these parcel up the land into different squares.  In 2020 is the study area is pretty much the same. It's just that back then there were only two big corporations they're working with and now there's a lot more land best you were your parks and land application mountain club warehouser. When I was there I was mainly in the warehouse of lands. And then so these are the point counts from 1990s and we'll talk more about what points counts are and what and what they were in their 387 point counts in the study 30 years ago, mind you point counts have to be repeated twice. So they did all these double and they did plant surveys at every single one. So it's a lot of work. And then these are the 2020 sample points overlaid a lot of the points were the exact same a lot of them were slightly different because we could find all of the points exactly. But it's the same area, and they were actually more in the 2020s so it got crazier. This is a stand map from 1993. So again stand map shows the different age classes of the forest. And misery township was actually that's what's represented here was a little bit miserable that is where some trucks continued to break down. It was also very lucky there. But so this is different age classes in 1993. And then this is how it changed 2022. So you can see that there is quite a difference in there being a lot more mid age things and less old group and younger. So meet the field crew leads, I wasn't there for three months for multiple, like a year or two, I was only there for a week, gathering, you know, I was interviewing the crew and getting materials for things like articles and like this. But John Levy and Kelsey Anderson were out there, leading the field crew for three months, which is crazy and very cool. And they did two summers they did one summer it was just the two of them, doing like half those points counts. And the next summer there were a bunch more folks all staying in a cabin in this head lake, but both them. John Levy is a PhD student at Tufts University and Kelsey Anderson is a master's student. And they are just very cool people. I was such a privilege to learn from them and kind of get a glimpse into almost my future. I was like, that's that's what I want to do. That's pretty cool. I just want to sit there and pick up plants and get really, really, really getting my black flies we were bug nets, except Jonah, Jonah never work but it was more rockin this, never. And here are methods that that's a photo of me the first summer I went I somewhere after freshman year I can't remember now, but that was a very large tree. So, like I said, hundreds of point counts after every single one, two times, and have to go back to every single point and do a vegetation survey. So the method of a point count is you locate the point, you have to go in 100 years from the road, then you have to listen and record for 10 minutes of complete silence, and multiple people have to be reporting in case other people miss some birds, other people get some birds and you discuss afterwards you kind of say like I think I heard that you hear that. What was that species, maybe, and you do record it so that you can go back and argue to each other if you need to. And this is only in six weeks, you have to do all the point counts in six weeks before the birds settle down and stop singing. So you're on a timetable, you're doing a lot of them per day, you're waking up early. So I would wake up at around 3am, we'd have breakfast, we'd head out depending on how far, sometimes drive for like 15 minutes, sometimes like an hour and a half, and the trucks depending on how far out we are going to different points.   But the vegetation survey is rather than being a 50 meter point, like a bubble, they were like 100 meter transects. So you would take that measuring tape, run it through the area of the point and then count every single plant species along at 100 meter transect. And then do a bunch of other funky fun science data stuff in terms of measuring the density of the canopy, the height of the trees, and so on and so forth. And the reason that we go back to collect the vegetation data, just because it's because we can relate birds to the particular habitat. So what habitats are birds favoring, and is it certain like plant species or is it like the overall habitat. So the initial insights and results. It's still 10 million acres of bird habitat. In the past 30 years, it is not mythological desert. Forestry practices changing climate change did not get rid of birds from this landscape. We, it is still a firm and abundant breeding ground for birds. We have many species seems that increased just receiving more species, individuals of a species in one area than there was 30 years ago, many species, and we don't necessarily understand why the data analysis is still going on, because of, you know, generally about how they work and so on. But we did learn a lot about what different species like. So Northern Prula, any forest is fine. They're generalists. But I do yours, they may seem like generalists more operating, but actually they really want much for hard work. Common yellow foods, they like clear cuts, that's probably to be expected. So wargways also want mixed softwood, which also surprised me. And again, this is on the breeding ground, something different than how they behave. And we're just seeing them around birding more and so I mean, but different species use different habitat types. And there are some exceptions to the densities. Some have decreased in density. These are all increases. So American Red Star is increased in density. And I'm going across an average. So you don't have to look at like the individual bars but you can see the average here for American Red Star is increased. Black and blue wargway averages increased slightly. Black and green wargways increased by a lot and so has Golden Crown Kinglet, which I can attest to every single point count. So many Golden Crown Kinglets. So fresh, I love them. I love them, but very frustrating when the channel isn't for other things. Some things decreased. Magnolia warboard, which is the photo that stood this presentation and winter run. Pretty significantly too. Again, don't know why. Trying to see what's going on here and whether it reflects a larger population change orchestra. So habitat change, 1990s versus the 2020s, the mountain habitat in the landscape. So the blue is 1990s and the orange is 2020s. And these different codes tell you what this is. So this would be, you know, like hardwood, a mixture, softwood. So this is mid-age hardwood, mid-age mixture, mid-age softwood. This is mature hardwood, mid-age, mature mixture, mature softwood. This is regen. So regen is growing back after a clear cut. So like the bushy stuff after fires that you see in photos. And this is like clear cut CL. So you can see clear cut went down, regen went up by a ton, which makes a lot of sense, because if we cut back on clear cutting, then all of it's going to start growing back. We're going to have all that bushy stuff. And we can see that also the mid-age went down, but the mid-age mixture went up, and then all of the mature went down. And this is not a good sign, because we need to keep that age class because a lot of birds like the red-eyed burials really like it. So just looking at exactly these changes that have happened and putting them in these categories just for easier visuals, youngest, medium, mature, species density, small graph, I know, can finagle it to be a little easier to read. This is just, again, looking at how the species density is overall increased. So again, blue 1990s, orange 2020. So you can just see American Red Star has gone up pretty much across all of, and this is putting it against the age classes, which is different about this graph. So you can see in almost all the age classes, the same ones up here, so younger stuff, mid-age, mature, same grouping. So American Red Star has gone pretty much across the board. Chestnut sidewalls are mostly increased in the young stuff, not much change in other age classes. Golden crown king length increased across all age classes, but really increased in the mature, which, again, if there's less mature, but bird density is increasing in the mature hardware, so you really need that mature course. So don't, this is just to show how many there are, you don't actually have to read what they are, but this is the list of species that increased in abundance. So 43 species increased in abundance in the study area. Which is both significant and surprising. And it ranges from ruby-froated hummingbird all the way down to black bull warbler, and in the middle there's spruce grouse, blue jay, veery, purple finch, pilliative pecker. And then this is looking at how many there were in the 1990s, looking at how many there were in the 2020s, and then what the number is, like what the exact changes. So ruby-froated hummingbird, they had a 10,000 individual increase. So if you're, and then also the abundance percentage change. So ruby-froated hummingbird increased by 1,128%. And this is in order of highest percentage change to lowest. So black bull warbler, not that much. Ruby-froated hummingbird a lot. I think the one I find most interesting is spruce grouse. So ruby-froated hummingbird had a 74% change in density. Some of this could be better detection. Maybe we know where they are. It's easier to find them. And some of that has to be worked out in like error analysis. There are a lot of species that decreased in abundance, only 17 compared to the 43 prior. And some of them were quite a lot, like 100% change as in we saw none in the 2020s. So ruby-froated hummingbird, no wood drush, no Wilson's warbler, no Sharpshooter talk, no Tennessee warbler, no Philadelphia burial. That was unfortunate for me because not only was this a research trip for me, it was a bird on show. I really wanted to see some Philly bees. I've seen them since, but when I first visited this study I'd never seen one. So again, could it be detection? Could we not be hearing these birds? But if it's hundreds of points or visiting them twice over two summers, that's pretty unlikely. Again, just kind of visual cue if it's hard to decipher what this is. Abundance in the 1990s, abundance in the 20s. The change in abundance never represented change. So yeah, this is a self-indulgent slide. I took this photo. It was my first Bruce Grouse. I was really happy. But I also thought that this was a fun story because I was after hours. So we'd done point counts for like six hours. We'd all been up for ages. Everyone was relaxing. Everyone goes, oh yeah, you know that's Bruce Grouse pair we found last week. And I was like, what is Bruce Grouse pair? And everyone, instead of relaxing as they showed up to their work day, they all took me back out into the study area to show me this Bruce Grouse. It was super sweet. And it was very cool in an attestation to how dedicated the field crew were to not only their work but also birding and also showing, you know, I guess the next generation of birders. Well, thanks. So it was very cool. It was very buggy. Again, that was particularly bad air. It was in the middle of a fog. There was also a female. And the male was displaying. So what does the study mean? Where is the application? So conservation impact, what could the timberland owners be doing differently? And birding impacts. So there's a side consequence to all this work we did.  So we also found out how you can be really good at birding up north. So there's this really interesting educational side to this study where it's now we could basically give a guide as to the best thoughts to see different kinds of warblers or this or that up north. We could tell people where not to go on the roads where you're going to bust the tire where you might be able to find lodging. There is kind of some talk about looking to establish a birding trail in collaboration with Appalachian Mountain Club. And then also, there will be an Appalachian Mountain Club birding festival, which will be June 15 to June 18. And part of this birding festival is coming from the results of the study. There will be field crew members, hopefully myself, I'm hoping I can go up. But also Jonah Levy will be going up to give more talks like this and also lead bird walks, because no one knows better the sound of every single bird up there than Jonah Levy. Jonah Levy has done all of those point counts. So that is a great opportunity if you're like this is super cool. The graphs don't interest me the picture the Spruce Garstas. That's totally fine. You can go birding up there with Jonah Levy and with more folks at the Appalachian Mountain Club birding festival, which I believe is the first birding festival. And so that is some next kind of cool things that will be coming out of this is real applied science and real ways to get people to engage in ecotourism in the area where it could definitely be used. Because part of this is, if it turns out that what we what Timberland owners need to be doing differently is scale back. That's an economic and environmental justice issue because that area is so reliant on timber. So if we increase ecotourism through birding, especially around areas like New South Lake, that'd be beneficial. But it's not to say that will be the outcome of the study that we're going to say you should do less force through there aren't any like sweeping conclusions like that, and they're likely won't be because it's a lot more nuanced than no clear cut yes etc. But it's definitely good to show people that there's great birding up there. I just want to kind of think the various vendors of this project, and especially the template owners for allowing us onto their lands. Like that is a big amount of trust like maybe giving us the key to go into their woods and look at their birds and possibly tell them things they may not want to hear. Again, don't know it right yet, but it's just super interesting that we're able to do this in such a diplomatic and a collaborative way. So, I accidentally sped through this. I talked a little bit too fast. That's okay. That means that we can have more questions and work time for things. This is also the project website. So our climate, our climate common org slash project 30 year bread project. You will find all of my amazing newsletters I learned how to use Mailchimp for my job is outreach lead. I, I was working on the newsletters up there where we had no internet and I would like trying to use Mailchimp, and every time I do something it will like erase my progress because there was my Wi Fi. But this is the project website. You can find things like Jennifer Rooks actually came up to the field site and interviewed a lot of crew members so you can find things like that on the website. But yeah, back to the black and blue warbler general questions or comments. Yeah. It was really wind dependent. We would often have to quit because of wind, wind days would often hinder the progress and that and again that's six week time period like that was, that would be a little stressful, you know, two days were off because of wind. But generally like 9am was where we'd kind of be like, yeah, we're going to, we're going to call it here. And then we'd go back to have second breakfast slash lunch, and then figure out what the next point of attack was, but wind was definitely an issue and there was a lot of creative ways to combat it where we would do point counts that were specifically in the way that if it started getting windy, we'd say okay we know that the point counts on this side of the ridge will be protected, or different trees sound different in the wind so we'd go to areas of plywood trees things like that. Yeah, it was very unlikely to see like we wouldn't really see birds in less like flocks of oral chickpeas coming through or like Canada jays or in the calm came what's really high up really see for borders because they were mostly feeding as much as they could for the green season very, very high up, but this study was my life for Canada jay life for oral chickpea life as breezegrass like there were definitely some cool birds and also northern gossops significant. So it's a tradition that we did a little bit of birding detours like the spruce grass we also did a birding detour, both summers I went for blackback woodpecker and we were unsuccessful both times, but it's all right, I'll go back up. Yeah, so, like around 80 to 100 years old. But if to learn more about that, the you can look up, we went to do stands called big Spencer and big greed were the ones that are significantly old like it was. I've never seen anything like it walking into big read it was one of the coolest experiences of my life, and there's no trails either so we were like kind of just bushwhacking very carefully. And then it just began away along and finding the old 1990s point count sites was really cool because they put like these little flags, and we like would find these flags under and like pieces of pipe like PVC pipe that stuck in the ground like like layers of mulch and leaves. So that's what we were doing in big read, but it was very, very cool. So the definition of old growth here is very different from the definition of old growth in your topics. I only bring this up because I was just in Costa Rica, and it connects really well, because it's the same warblers. But I asked them the same question I said how over your own growth and you looked at me like I was crazy. Like what do you mean. I was like, well, like what's your definition who's like, it's old, it's never been cut. Oh, oh, okay. Our definition is like, like, I think, I think around like 800, but again, depends on where you are. But actually in Costa Rica that's not true, necessarily, there's been new archaeological evidence of like 400 years ago of people in places like Osip Peninsula, who actually did countries, which is pretty interesting, but not a lot of research has been done into that. I have like general questions or comments about me this work. I wonder about the, those comparisons of the night, that would be the point down for you. Yeah, I would. I feel like I knew the answers that it's on one point. And that is, so when we're going to have zoom that one of the principal investigators John Hagan was going to be on soon in my backup plans that call on him, never those questions. So that is definitely a job that's what I call a John question. And I want to say yes because that sounds like something I had asked before, but I can also get the information field. Yeah, it is and if I went through the graphs quickly is a lot of them are smaller and does it, and then want to go back to those feel like we move through the two costs. Okay. Okay, I'm on the job. Okay, I was more, I think I was more burdened than a hub when I was up there, especially the first time of the first summer I was just there because they wanted me to experience what research looked like the second summer I was actually like working as a outreach lead. I think I did a little bit of like E bird Merlin before I went up and was like, I'm sad and then got there was like, no. Part of the problem is actually, I can't use this excuse it was only one species we found it, but the white bird sparrows there had a different dialect. And it wasn't just the ones up north there wasn't like a northern white bird sparrows, it was once in specific point counts. There was a set of point counts in a certain area where the white boats those entirely different dialect. It was absolutely fascinating. It was the kind of thing, like, questions breed questions you know it's the kind of thing that you need to go back and learn more about that. It's fairly very cool, but confusing. Is there any effort to track down where they come from? It wasn't part of this study because there's so much else going on but it would definitely be something to learn more about from what I know of bird song speciation, just personally I would probably say that there was probably just one male who did something different. And then, you know, that that worked that worked for him and then everyone and all the other males minute because he was the one who was getting mates and, but that's just how I was always taught it conventionally but avian science always surprises us.  I want to go I want to go out of the state to college but calling back for something like that is super cool, especially because I want to continue doing forestry and ecology stuff I was never that into forestry because I was into birds and I was into climate and I was into ecology generally I didn't think about forestry a lot. And now I can walk into the woods and be like oh this is 2HB. It is, which is kind of fun but. Yeah, so we would do everything at certain heights. And then it was can't be density it was tallest tree height. It was the mix so is it softwood is a hardwood. And then it was also kind of looking at the width of trees as well, try to gauge ages like ins and losses because that's really good indicators old growth. And then there was a I honestly cannot remember all the things we would take down during those kinds of ways. No, no, I'm not that I know of, but that's super interesting. Yeah, if we don't want any questions or comments. Sorry, I did this a little bit fast. And everybody for all.


You know sometimes we think of organization in this as the standalone things. They just are kind of an inanimate object They they're out there on their own and the rules are totally separate for them But the truth is organizations just like people in a sense exist in a community And and so there's a lot of overlap between where that organization operates and what their goals are and those of the community In which they are surrounded and which they serve so so really when we're talking about something like corporate and social Responsibility we're talking about where that overlap is at what obligations that organizations have within their community You know in the same way that communities may have in some sense an obligation of the organizations and supporting them, but What is the obligation is that that's going to be the focus of our topic today is what is the obligation of an organization? Any organization a company a nonprofit an NGO anything at all What is the obligation of that organization within the community that they serve and that's where we exist in the sense of corporate social responsibility So that's what we're going to talk about in our discussion today's is the idea of corporate social responsibility what the Obligations of organizations are here and and how we might enact those more effectively So first of all just a brief definition of corporate social responsibility or CSR as it's sometimes known The voluntary actions taken by a company to address the economic social and environmental impacts of its business Operations and the concerns of its principal stakeholders. So there are a couple of things we're going to break down here First of all, these are voluntary actions. These are not things. We're not talking about things that are Mandated by the government or by the corporate charter or anything like that These are voluntary organizations take our voluntary actions taken by those organizations To fulfill these kind of obligations and they address economic social and environmental impacts of both the business Operations and the concerns of its principal stakeholders. So we'll break down what we mean by that And and the fact that it does impact the business operations and the profitability of an organization But we also have to be concerned with the principal stakeholders and so what our stakeholders who are stakeholders? We're gonna we're gonna dig into that a little bit more But this is where we're coming from when we talk about CSR This is what we mean the voluntary actions taken by a company to address the economic social and environmental impacts of its business operations and the concerns of its principal stakeholders So when we talk about CSR we're gonna approach it specifically from the public relations aspect then and so we need to look at What's known as the triple bottom line sometimes you hear people say well the bottom line is this and most of the time They're talking about Profitability does the company make money? But the truth is there are three bottom lines that we need to be concerned with The first is people we I mean as organizations we exist to kind of serve our publics, right? I mean, you know In essence either you're there to sell some something or some service to something to the people Or you're there to serve the people in a more like a service-oriented way if you're a non-profit or whatever But but there are people involved no matter why you cut this up no organization exists or has any kind of Function really without the without people at its core So we need to be concerned with who are the people that are involved in our organization Who are the people being served by organization and and what's the bottom line there as far as the people that we're serving and how that Impacts the efficiency and effectiveness and the overall profitability of the organization in general So so we need to be concerned with people as part of our bottom line We also need to be concerned with a plan. We have an obligation to our planet Whether that's again locally or globally or and or both right We exist on this this hunk of rock and and so we have an obligation just like we do when you're a homeowner You have an obligation to take care of your home and and that you you care for your yard and you care for the upkeep of your Neighborhood and then the people around you You know you have to be concerned with that because it affects their property values and it's all interconnected We have an obligation as organizations to look out for our planet as well and make sure that we are being environmentally responsible and being good stewards of the resources that were being provided by by the earth and by by all the the Items that we pull from it and that we use around us So we have an obligation to the planet as well every organization has that as part of their bottom line So that's the first two the people on the planet are the first two parts of the triple bottom line And the third is profit now remember that no organization first of all exists without At least breaking even right even nonprofits doesn't mean no profit. It means they're not there to to specifically to incur profit but but but they can't very well exist without no money coming in Very few organizations can exist without any kind of profit whatsoever without some sort of income So they have to be concerned with that in the bottom line and and when you talking about Corporations, I mean as much as we want to say, you know, this company is a lot to do this and ought to that Their bottom line is if they're not making money, they're not going to be able to serve anybody It's sort of like when you think about when you're on an airplane if you've flown on an airplane They give you that feel at the beginning and talk about how if the oxygen masks deploy You should put yours on first and then put your child's on if you have a child traveling with you And that's because if you're fiddling around with the kids mask and you can't get it on and you're losing oxygen And then you pass out before the kids mask is on you're gonna be no good to anybody You're dead weight then right so so you need to put yours on first and then focus on putting the child's mask on We have to ask organizations. We have to first of all be concerned with okay Are we able to pay the bills? Are we able to keep the lights on? Are we able to pay our employees? Are we able to to do these things and make money? We have an obligation as an organization and as a business to make sure that we have as much coming in as we have going out If not more right to benefit the stockholders and depending on what what model of organization You're using you may have that obligation as well. So we have to be concerned with profit It's naive to say that well We just aren't gonna pay any attention to profit profit has to be there has to be there in the mix But that's why we have this triple bottom line all of these things need to be considered We can't totally exclude any of them. We have to be concerned with developing all three of those in the bottom line That's what responsible organizations do and so socially responsible and corporate, you know corporations So CSR will be concerned with all three of these things in the triple bottom line and the people the planet and the profit All and how they intersect and are affected by that organization So if we narrow in a bit more on how does this you know How is this affected by public relations or rather? How is public relations affected by all this? Public relations and CSR it comes down to knowing your public's identifying and managing opportunities Counseling executives and publicizing those results then so when we think about knowing your public's we talk about that a lot in public relations Who are you serving? Who are you trying to reach? Who is you know your target audience here? Who can we have the most impact on and and so who are we focusing on? We have to know our public's and knowing our public's and corporate spot social responsibility means Who is affected by this organization if you're running a factory? Who's the who's the neighborhood that surrounds you?  Who are your customers? Who are your these people that are all affected? Who are your employees that make up your your organization? So you have to know your public's and know who we are serving Who are we trying to be socially responsible to and for we have to know that in advance? We got to identify those public's that's always an important aspect in any facet of public relations But certainly here in CSR as well. We need to know our public's then we have to understand that the public relations can help identify and manage these opportunities if you just on the most basic level look at you know when when Non-profit organizations go to a big company in the area for donations Most of the time they're going to be dealing with somebody in that sort of public relations role Even if they don't have that title of public relations, that's still part of their function in essence in that organization. So Every PR person has to know and anybody engaged in this has to be a PR person really in the sense They have to be able to identify and manage those opportunities Recognizing first of all who your public's what's important to them What issues are important to to your organization as well as to your constituents there both employees and Neighbors and so forth Identify what those opportunities are and that you can get involved in and can can have a hand in and can have an impact in and then Manage those you can't say yes to everything. So you've got to be able to manage those opportunities as well Then we also have the role of counseling executives a lot of times the role PR So to take that broader look and say okay, this is going to be good for our organization It's going to be good for the community as well and good for for the planet or whatever But this is going to be good for our organization and be able to explain why To executives be able to explain to executives This is how this serves not only our publics and not only our community, but but our organization as well This is how this is a win-win for all of us And then we do need to be able to publicize those results and sometimes people are like, oh, no You shouldn't do these we should be more modest than that But the truth is if you're doing something good, it's an organization It's not only good for your organization to let people know but it's good for whatever effort you are serving To let that organization or to let the community know that hey We're working on this and there's an effort going on behind this and and we're a part of it So there's all kinds of reasons that you should publicize your results in Effective ways and not just plaster it all over the place and not just look for all the credit But but there's a lot of benefit for all sides when we can effectively Publicize those results as well So that's a role of public relations in CSR as well so as you can see public relations is involved in a lot of different areas in in Corporate social responsibility. We have a lot of different functions to serve there So we need to be involved in all of these things Something we've talked about before is the the just you know within the last few minutes It's the centrality of stakeholders and stakeholders are the various individuals or groups who affect or are affected by an organization Okay, so we can look at a variety of different groups that make up Who we are as stakeholders, right? So there are for example societal stakeholders people who are you know from our society who are impacted by this Are the communities? I've mentioned that we the where your business is located government agencies that are impacted by or that impact your industry The media is part of your societal stakeholders. They have an interest in knowing what's happening and and what you're doing how you're responsible for it non-profits in your area non-profit organizations that are partnering with you the with you for certain efforts can be a part of that NGOs or non-governmental organizations meaning nonprofits that that seek to serve Larger efforts outside of the government that meaning they're not controlled by the government, but they're Sometimes fulfill a role that we might associate with the government in terms of providing mass relief to an area or something so all of these are societal stakeholders and our broader society as a whole these are folks who in part have something to gain or something to lose or are impacted by our Efforts and conversely that we are impacted by them as well. So they're societal Stakeholders there are also organizational stakeholders people within the organization Directors executives employees members that are affected by all this so and that have an impact on this We're drawing on these folks for their for their impact and and putting them to work for this But they are also affected by what our organization does. So they are certainly stakeholders in our organization They're they're critical stakeholders that come from within our organization and then also Not to be left out, but they're economic stakeholders There are our customers that we need to can be concerned with our creditors the people who depend on us to make money so that we Can benefit them as well our competitors are impacted by what we're doing So they are also stakeholders in our organization our suppliers and distributors. So the the Items we have coming in and going out that to produce this product or provide this service in unions If that's a part of your organization, those are all economic stakeholders. They have an economic stake and you know, again, that profitability Aspect of the triple bottom line these are people who are going to be affected and affect us economically By these things. So we have to be concerned with all of these different kinds of stakeholders organizational economic societal They all are impacted by what we're doing and we are conversely impacted by what they are doing This is an open system, right where it's not just Closed off and we only affect ourselves and we're only affected by ourselves almost every organization has these This open system where it's affected by things that are going on outside of it And also then has an impact on things outside of it. So there are lots of different stakeholders and they are Really important part of of of what we do as an organization Okay, so let's talk for a minute about how we practice and put into practice corporate social responsibility How does this show up in organizations? What are some ways that we can enact corporate social responsibility or CSR? So one of the ways that we can do that is through direct cause promotion You may be familiar with this Subaru share the love Events and things that they do and so basically this is a choice of Subaru is made to support a few specific Organizations including some that are close to my heart pets I always love when they have their pet commercials on and they're supporting pet causes. I think that's very important So to me, that's that's significant That says something to me about Subaru about something they've chosen to do to promote that cause to get involved in that cause Financially but also in terms of marketing and tie it into their organization They've decided that's part of their organizational ethos and this is what they want to be involved in this one Part of what they want to be known for and what they want to share with their Audience who's seeing their their ads and things so you can get involved in direct cause promotion Then something that's important to to use an organization or whether it's directly affected or not directly Connected or not. I mean pets aren't necessarily directly connected to it's Subaru But at some level somebody has decided this is an important cause and we want to be involved in that so They've gotten involved in that kind of cause promotion where they're they're providing money and resources and marketing and all kinds of things to this cause and and And getting involved in the promotion of that cause You also have just more specifically direct corporate philanthropy It is where you see those big checks, right? Those big checks come out organization gives out a big check to the test to a nonprofit or something or to a cause Because they believe in that cause or because somebody's asked them for that money or And they want the publicity from under whatever but for whatever reason, you know, sometimes companies will donate money Which is great. I mean they have some money. Most organizations have money set aside for this So so, you know, I've been involved in lots of nonprofits that have been supported by many many community businesses some local some national and and global and they all are typically very generous with the so corporate philanthropy is another area of corporate social responsibility ways to get back just directly financially again, you know Economically give back to your community or to a cause then you can also get involved through community volunteering I'm really pleased to say this has been a part of every job. I've had I've been amazed by this that they set aside every organization I've ever worked for has set aside time for employees to say, okay This amount of hours per year. We want you to go out and volunteer Pick a pick a cause.  Sometimes they'll have a group Effort too, right? I lived in a community Few years ago that was affected by a tornado went through the community and the community college where I was working said, okay This day these two days were not the college is going to be closed We'd like everybody to go volunteer and do what they can to help with this tornado relief And so we spent two days large groups of us Volunteering in whatever capacity we could so community volunteering and it doesn't have to be after a massive event like that Sometimes organizations just say, you know, today's gonna be a day to give back So please find the local organization to donate your time to or we're gonna have this effort So it could just be a cleanup effort or something So there's all kinds of ways that people get involved in and organizations can support that through community volunteering And finally another category broad category we have is that we can engage in socially responsible business practices A lot of times you'll see these kind of logos around that indicate that an organization is fair trade certified or cruelty free Or whatever indicating that they've taken a stand on a certain practice. And so they are they are they're dedicated to to Performing what they do within these responsible business ways whether it's carbon footprint or it's you know Organic farming or whatever it is non pesticide growing things It just depends on what the organization is and what they do But they can engage in every organization has the opportunity to do what they can to be involved in socially responsible business practices Whether that's environmental whether it's just you know for the community at large whatever that responsible practice might be So there are different areas and different ways that we can engage in corporate social responsibility and CSR Lots of different ways that we can do that So there are a few different building blocks of corporate social responsibility and things we need to consider when we're an Organization getting involved in these things. We need to think about fit. Is this a good fit for our organization again? You know cars don't have anything to do with pets necessarily directly, but somewhere along the line Subaru's decided This is something that fits their corporate ethos something that that works for them It's a good fit for them. And so they've they've engaged in that that pet project I'm so and supporting pet causes. So that's a good fit for them. They've decided We got to find an or something that's a good fit for our organization We got to find something that can get buy-in both from our employees and from the community at large I'm from all the stakeholders that we serve something that's going to get buy-in right something that has legs meaning it's going to get Some traction. It's going to go somewhere. It's going to make a difference not only in You know what our organization is trying to achieve but also with within the In the environment within the economic impact within those triple bottom It's going to have legs. It's going to make a difference in some way for some group of people or for the environment in some way or whatever it is It's going to it's going to have traction. It's going to get somewhere We have to make sure it fits our objectives our strategic objectives What we're trying to accomplish as an organized organization that has to it should fit into our strategic plan and our strategic efforts in some way and then measurement awesome ought to be something that can be measured in some way whether that's time spent volunteering or whether it's the amount of you know Return on investment you're getting for your donation is this money having this kind of positive impact What kind of weights can we measure the impact of this because we need to be able to report this out as organizations we've got to be able to report this out and Identify it to our stakeholders and say specifically. This is how we're having an impact in our community When we're communicating CSR communicating corporate social responsibilities There's a few things we need to keep in mind again Communicating this is a big part of our role as public relations folks. So a few things to keep in mind here First of all, we need to be authentic when we're engaging in these responsible practices or whatever We want to avoid what's called greenwashing, which is just slapping a pain You know a green layer of pain on something this comes from the environmental area where you know an organizational do something Just so they can say well, we've reduced our carbon footprint by this much But they haven't really done anything to impact Overall the environment they're just doing that so they can they can say that it sounds good And that's greenwashing if there's no real impact. There's no real meat behind it. Then we don't want that We want to be authentic. We don't want to greenwash. We want to Be very authentic in what we're doing and the impact that it's having and and so when we're communicating CSR We want to be authentic about how we're communicating it and what we're communicating We need to back our words with action, you know, my mom is from Missouri and She grew up in Missouri and the state motto there is that that Missouri is the show me state So my mom always used to say I'm from Missouri. You got to show me. You got to show me So back your words with action. Don't just talk about things that you're doing Act like you're from Missouri and show them right and show, you know, act like they're from Missouri I guess and show them and pretend they're from the show me state, right? We got to back our words with action and and really let people be able to know what we're doing But not just talk about it. We've got to actually do these things then, right? We also need to be transparent. We need to be transparent. We need to be clear with people What's happening and and show them and not not do things in the shadows not do things that have to be in the shadows We want to be transparent. So here this is what we're doing This is how we've given back and this is what that means for us and be transparent with all these things We need to know our audience again We have to identify those publics identify those stakeholders and And and know how to communicate with them know what we're communicating with them. What's gonna have impact with them We need to create a dialogue as well. Remember public relations is not just a one-way street We need to create dialogue. We need to have interaction and let people know what they think about our efforts and and And and be able to communicate With them and not just to them or at them So we need to create that dialogue and create a space for that two-way sense of communication and Along with that we need to listen and collaborate We need to be able to identify what's important to our audiences and what's impacting the world around us and what people are Saying about us and then collaborate with folks when that's important Most things are done in collaboration with other folks most successful efforts can be done in partnership And and you can rely on the expertise of others you can provide your own expertise But but we can collaborate with others when we know what's what's happening. What's going on? And finally we need to engage our employees again. This is an important part of our stakeholders And so we need to communicate with our employees. What's happening? We need to have them be a part of this entire effort not only in having input on what's happening and but being actively involved in how it's happening and and And you know so that they are products we need to engage our employees so that we have that buy-in and so that we're Incorporating a very very important group of stakeholders in our organization in this effort Since you can see corporate responsibility has a lot to it It's at the same time very simple but also very complex But really just has to do with being a responsible part of the world around us just like we are as individual citizens We have the same obligations really as organizations to be responsible and how we use our resources how we care for those resources how we you know benefit those around us and and Help our communities in whatever way we can If you have questions about corporate social responsibility feel free to email me. I'd love to hear from you there in the meantime I hope that this will give you some new perspective on this important role of Organizations because it's not just about how many widgets you can make or what service you provide It's about how we impact the greater society around us and so that's where we we come to these principles in organizations of Corporate social responsibility and how we impact them as professional professional public relations practitioners


What's up everybody, Jason here for Jasper's casebreaks.com. We just sold out 2023 Panini Immaculate Baseball, one box break, round of division number five, guys. Again, guys, one box divisional. Here's the dice, here's the customer names and the divisions. Let's click the roll. Six out of three, nine times, good luck. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Well, I mean, I'm telling people Logan, if we don't sell stuff out tonight, guys, it's gonna sit there for two days because we're off tomorrow and we're gonna be off on the first. So like I said, at least we're only gonna do one NT tonight. It's gonna be the one that's closest. So like I said, we're off for two nights, guys. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. So like I said, I mean, I'd love to get at least one of them done, but I'm thinking if we get the first one, guys, maybe we get to momentum and get the second case done. All right, so nine, nine, nine. So Jason with the AL East, David with the AL Central, Omar with the AL West, David with the NL East, Sal with the NL West, and then Keith with the NL Central. All right, guys, TWC then. One, two, three, four, guys. Let's see if we can roll one of those numbers. One, we're gonna go with the top box. All right, we got Drew Romo for the Colorado Rockies to 25. Colorado Rockies, of course, that's going to the NL West, which is Sal. We got a redemption here, we'll save that for last. We got a Jet Williams from the New York Mets to 99. Mets will be part of the NL East, nice three-color patch in autograph. Mets is NL East, that is gonna David. And we got a Rick Farrell for Boston, five out of 15. That is AL East, which is Jason K. We've got Tyler Soderstrom to 57 for the AL West, which is going to Omar. And then we got one Jumbo right here, how about Grayson Rodriguez, piece of the glove and autograph to 49. That's going to the AL East, which is Jason K. And then, of course, you have your redemption here, guys, here we go. Good luck. It is a prospect patch autographs, car number nine, Robert Hassel. Now let me double check, obviously he was part of the Soto trade. So I just want to make sure that in the checklist, he is a Washington national, which I believe he is. That way I can give it up to the right division. And yes, Robert Hassel is a Washington national, which that would be going to the NL East. NL East is David. There you go, guys, quick little box break here. So again, guys, if you guys like it, Mac, I can post up another one, but if not, we can take it up a notch and get some NT going, guys. Appreciate it, jaspyskatesbreaks.com. Very nice little box right here, though. Nice stuff. Thank you, guys.


Good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much for coming out today. I'm Jane Betzel. I'm the current President of the Board of the Greater Portland Landmarks. We are here to celebrate our 50-second annual meeting and to have the 2016 Preservation Awards and Ceremony and Reception followed. We're having the meeting today in this beautiful old church. What has happened to this church represents much of what the mission of Greater Portland Landmarks is. As the times change, historic buildings can stay, but their mission and what they do for community will change. So we're happy to be here. They're working on their mission, they've built something new, and even just last week they opened the Brennan Archives. We're very pleased to be here. Landmarks has had a pretty exciting year this year. We've had record attendance at the Portland Observatory. School children, tourists, locals have discovered one of Portland's greatest landmarks for the first time this summer. Thank you. We also had a record-breaking fundraising gala this spring which helps fund our education programs. In addition, on October 1st, we will celebrate the anniversary of our first full year of the Director of Advocacy. This full-time position has allowed us to undergo so much more of what we want to do, and it certainly has allowed us to reach outside of the city limits in sending our word and message out to the community. There's so much more to what we do, and we hope that all of you will take a look at our hot off-the-press Greater Portland Landmarks Annual Report. It has photos, it sends a thank you to all of our members, so please take one with you. I want to take a moment to thank a very special person tonight, and that is Ed Gardner, our first Vice President for his sponsorship of the awards program and ceremony. Thank you, Ed. The list of thank yous is far too long to utter here, but there is someone who deserves a very special thank you. I want to thank Tom Elliman, who has served as the President of Greater Portland Landmarks Board of Trustees for the last two years. I have special affection for Tom. He was President when I first came on the board. He welcomed me and helped me understand the joy, complexity, and yes indeed challenge of serving on the Board of Trustees of Greater Portland Landmarks. This last year he did Yeoman's work, ushering us through one of the most controversial advocacy positions that landmarks has had to face in several years. But this has been nature of an advocacy organization and we are proud to take on that challenge. With Tom's leadership, we came through and we are in the strongest position in our 50-year history. It is with heartfelt thanks, I present to you a gift that represents a small token of our thanks and appreciation. Thank you, Tom. Come on up. We get to the more official things, so we have three quick business items before commencing the awards presentation. So at this very moment I am calling the 2016 annual meeting to order. The first thing we need to do is approve the minutes from last year's annual meeting. They can be found in your program. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes? Thank you. And a second? Thank you. All in favor? All members invited to vote. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Thank you. We'll pass unanimously. Next, I'm going to turn it over to Bruce Moyer, our treasurer for a brief financial report. Good evening. This is always a high point in the program. People want to know about the numbers. Anyway, I'm Bruce Moyer. I'm the new treasurer of the organization. I want to give you some highlights in terms of the year that ended last year. The plan marks is on a fiscal year that begins on July 1 and then ends on July 30. Basically our revenue is divided into two large areas. One source is our earned income and that would be primarily programs, but then the revenue... Oh, pardon me. How's that?  Is that better? Thank you. Thank you. Better? Worse? Okay. Our revenue is from two sources, primarily one's earned, one unearned. The unearned is donation income. Donations for this past year were under the amount from the year before, but keep in mind the year before coincided with the big gala of the 50th anniversary of the organization and it's not unusual to have a survey. I'll take your breath here after that, but we have a new... The gala was very successful last June. We have a very strong development, and so I think lots of nice things are happening in that area. And also though on the operating side, it was really a rather excellent year. Overall revenues were ahead by about 15%, but also... Anyway, the operation of the observatory, as Portland has become more and more of a visitor's destination point, the observatory has been a prime beneficiary of that, and our revenue last year has had about 30%. So that has just been a wonderful success, and it has been a success for the organization. And so we finished the year. The auditors finished their audit, and the finance committee met with them this past few days ago, actually on Monday, and we have a very, what I call, readers' digest encapsulated version of the draft report with your materials tonight. If you have any questions, please let me know. And I do want to take one opportunity, though, to thank someone else, since I'm the new kid on the block. And I want to thank Tom Doud for all he has done. Tom has been a treasurer for six years, seven years, a long, long time. And I have to tell you, Tom was involved in this role with a lot of evolution into procedures of the institution, and Tom were very, very there, more than his fair share to make things happen. And so, Tom, do you mind standing up, please? Anyway, thank you. So at this time, I would like to open the meeting for any new business and any discussion. So now, the new portion of the meeting is closed. Next, I would like to invite Carol DeTine up to discuss some governance issues. Thank you, Carol. This year, the trustees are suggesting changes in four areas of landmark spelling laws. These changes have to do with membership, standards of conduct of board members, officers, and a conflict of interest policy. You were handed on the back of the minute details about the changes to our bylaws. Is there a motion to accept these changes in the bylaws? Second, all in favor? Any opposed? Any abstentions? It has passed, thank you. And now I'll present the slate of officers for the Board of Trustees. Trustee nominees to the Board for a three-year term include Elaine Clark, Lynn Hallett, Don Head, and Jack Rieland. Trustee nominees returning to the Board for a second three-year term include Francesca Galutio-Steel, Ed Gardner, and Kate Griffith. Trustee nominees returning to the Board for a third three-year term include Thomas Elliman and Richard Gilbane. Is there a motion to approve the slate? Second, all in favor? Any opposed? Abstentions? Thank you. Congratulations, new and returning trustees. I want to recognize and thank two trustees who are retiring from the Board this year. Jim Cran has worked for us for six years, and Nancy Ladd served out three full terms serving nine years. Thank you very much for your service, both of you. At this time, more fun begins. I would like to invite Ed Gardner, Vice President of Landmarks Trustee, and Hillary up to the podium to start a preservation award ceremony. Thank you. I'm going to use this handheld mic here. I'll turn this one off then. Thank you all for coming tonight and supporting Greater Portland Landmarks. I had the, as some of you may know, I'm a realtor in Greater Portland. And this year, the Maine Association of Realtors sent me on a conference down to Newport, Rhode Island, and I just got back an hour ago. And I had the benefit of after the late night meetings of walking around the town and experiencing the sailing capital of the world. And if you've been to Newport, you get this feel that just exuberates out of these beautiful buildings down here. And all of a sudden, I felt like I was back in Portland, not in the 70s, not in the 80s. But today, when you're down in the old port or in the West End or any historic district in Portland, you get this sensational feel of what it was like in yesteryear. And I'm proud to say I'm a Portland resident. And I'm really happy to know that you, with all your hard work, your developers, the people that promote historic preservation and really love this city, have stepped up and made it a beautiful place for me to live and now for you. I also want to thank you for your support for Greater Portland Landmarks. Without your membership, without your donation and your investments and the John Kelvin Stevens Society level, we couldn't do what we do. We're out there advocating because we want the people, not today, but in 50 years and 100 years, our grandchildren and children and great-grandchildren, to understand what the city is all about, what it means to be in Greater Portland, and then to pass the baton on to new architecture as it unfolds in our lives. So thank you all. So what we want to do tonight is recognize lots and lots of you that have stepped up to the plate and did that good deed to make this a fabulous city. And we're happy to have you here. It feels like a Portland community party tonight, seeing all of you. And without you, Portland wouldn't be what it is today. So thank you for that. Hillary and I have 12 awards that we're going to give out and we'll alternate back and forth here. And I think I'm up first, but you might have something to say before me. So we've made a script this year to so we can be right on time, so we can have some good socializing time after the presentations. And I just want to say that this group of awardees really is an outstanding range of programs and people who make preservation happen. These are projects that really communicate the importance of preservation and historic architecture and also show the energy and passion and commitment of the people who view them. So I would like for now for Ed to present the first award. All right. He's telling me it works now and I think it works. This first one is very special to me. Our first preservation award is to recognize an instrumental in the revitalization of miniature public green spaces. I'm going to stick with this one. Diane Davison, can you please stand up? Diane Davison as past president. This is one fabulous Portland woman. She was past president of Friends of Eastern Prom. She's now executive director and co-founder of the Friends of Eastern Promenade. Has worked more than a decade to protect, revitalize and enhance the eastern promenade. You can come over to the western promenade sometime. Because of her advocacy for eastern promenade and as a chair of the Portland Parks Commission for all of Portland's public green spaces, we recognize Diane Davison for exceptional work and the legacy that she lives leaves to the city of Portland. Diane, thank you. So our next award is for two people who have led efforts to revive one of the most historic parks in the city. Frank and Sharon Riley have provided a driving force behind advocacy to revive interest in Lincoln Park and to secure resources to rehabilitate and reinvigorate the use of the park. Their first priority has been to love Lincoln Park and that's the logo on their website. And they found a grant to develop a master plan for the park. The first priority has been to increase awareness of the park and restore the fountain and pathways. We can see the results of the campaign and the everyday usage of the park and its gradual revival as one of the great outdoor spaces in Portland. And I invite Frank and Sharon Riley to come to the podium to receive their award. I love you guys. Visit their park too. It's a lovely in-town park and you guys are bringing it back to life again. Our third award is for someone who has left an indelible mark on the preservation movement in Greater Portland. John Turk, can you stand up? Has been practicing architecture in Portland for over 25 years. He has worked on a variety of preservation projects for well-known landmarks including the Portland Observatory, Deering Oaks Castle in the Park, Portland City Hall, Mechanics Hall, and the main Irish Heritage Center in which we sit here today. John is a founding member of the Portland Society of Architecture and has served on Portland's Historic Preservation Board for 15 years. He recently participated in the designation of three local new historic districts. Thank you John. Our next award recognizes the restoration of historic landscape in Portland. In 1905, a formal plan for Fort Allen Park on the Eastern Promenade was prepared by the Olmstead Brothers Firm with features that include tree-lined paths, a carriage drive, and earthen berm from Fort Allen. Modern decades have brought modifications for that conflict with the original plan. Friends of the Eastern Promenade was founded in 2006 to advocate for the park and decided to focus energy on creating and implementing a master plan to restore Fort Allen. The Friends accomplished this massive $1.4 million undertaking in 2014, restoring the park's history while adding features like bike racks, interpretive signs, and universal access for modern-day needs. Would all of the members of Friends of Eastern Promenade please stand?  Great. And I'd like to invite Matthew Kennedy forward to accept the award on behalf of the Friends. Our next award recognizes a critical piece of history in a town just south of us. Scarborough, Maine was home to the Danish village, a popular roadside accommodation and attraction on Route 1. Built in 1929 by hotelier Henry P. Rhines, it was one of the most earliest motels. It was popular through World War II and then was used for housing and other uses. It was finally demolished in 1976. The only remaining structure was a brick arch at its entrance. When the parcel was up for redevelopment, the town council decided to relocate and restore the arch to a memorial park. For this demonstration of its commitment to preserving history, we recognize the town of Scarborough for its preservation and relocation of the Danish arch. Accepting the award will be Craig Friedrich and Jessica Holbrook of the Scarborough Historic Preservation Implementation Committee and Thomas Hall Scarborough Town Manager. Will you please come up and thank you. It is often the details of historic architecture that lends so much to the character of a building or a neighborhood. The Congress Street Historic District is the main pedestrian and vehicular artery in downtown Portland. Many of the buildings in the commercial center of the district have been altered over time. Standfast Works Forge has successfully preserved and restored the historic wrought iron details of the WT grant block at 510 Congress Street and also the cast iron details on the charitable mechanics hall across the street. These details on these buildings give them their authentic character. For the restoration of the iron details at 510 and 519 Congress Street, we recognize Tim Green of Standfast Works Forge. Designed by Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow of Boston, Yarmus Merrill Memorial Library is prominent in the center of town. The 112-year-old building was modified by an addition in the 1980s which was altered the circulation patterns, library trustees and the town developed a revitalization effort for the entire building using public and private funds, library staff and architects' work to rehabilitate the structure using environmentally friendly strategies and restoring the beautiful history of the original library. Accepting this award is my friend Nancy Barbe of Barbe Wheelock Architects and Heidi Grimm, Executive Director of the Merrill Memorial Library. Would you please come up? Now back to Portland we go, a few blocks up from one of our past award winners. The George S. Hunt block on Congress Street was designed by noted Portland architect Francis Bassett and is associate Frederick Thompson in 1886. Store fronts were added in 1912 and 1950. It was left vacant after a destructive fire in 2010 and suffered from extensive deferred maintenance. The building has been extensively repaired, cleaned, restored and rehabilitated. Its historic features were saved and revived and an elegant and contemporary interior inserted to meet modern lifestyles and building codes. This restoration respects the building's surviving historic features, adds new interiors and contributes to the revitalization of Longfellow Square area. We recognize the Guiman Group and Andre Guimonde of present architecture for the rehabilitation of the George S. Hunt block at 660 Congress Street. Accepting this award is Andre Guimonde. We have two certificates. Seems like it's old Friends Week for me. This is a really cool one. John Calvin Stevens designed the Roosevelt School in 1927 to 1928 as an elementary school for the Meeting House Hill neighborhood in South Portland. The school was closed to the public use in 1983 and used privately by the spur-wink services through 2012. It was sold in 2014 after a competitive bid process. The development team used original drawings and the national preservation standards to guide the refurbishment of the original historic elements of the structure. The historic building was transformed into ten condominium units and new construction was cited and constructed to house an additional nine units with materials that show a clear visual difference from the historical building. The development team embraced high preservation standards for the redevelopment of the former school in a community that does not have the preservation ordinance or require formal design review. It's hero to me. For their work to rehabilitate the Roosevelt School into Meeting House Hill lofts, we recognize PDD architects and Ethan Boxer Maycomber of a new development. Accepting this award for the project is Ethan Boxer Maycomber. The next award is at the moment very close to all of us. St. Dominic's Church was completed in 1893. For more than 100 years, it was a very important fixture in Portland's Irish community with over 4,000 members at the end of World War II. The church closed in 1998 and the main Irish Heritage Center purchased and began operations in the building in 2003. And this is a true labor of love, as I'm sure you can tell from all the features in the building. Since taking over this large building, the organization has faced numerous challenges, including a failed beam that caused the four-ton bell to fall two stories and damage the tower and a storm that flooded the basement. With substantial volunteer and financial investment, the center has repaired the tower's integrity, the building accessible, and welcomed thousands of people annually to use its facility. Would all of those who are involved in the Irish Heritage Center please stand? We've asked Bob Kearney of the Building and Facilities Committee to accept the preservation award for this magnificent building and exemplary community project. Nathan Clifford Elementary School is a three-story building in the Oakdale neighborhood of Portland. Designed by John Calvin Stevens, the 1907 school is significant for its classical revival architecture that embraced the latest ideas for school architecture at the time. The school closed in 2011 and was sold to developers collaborative to be converted into market-rate residential units with a public park and playground. The result is an excellent example of local government working with the neighborhood developer to keep a beloved building connected to the community through a new use. Its historic interior features, including blackboards that remain in each apartment, have been retained as the building has been modernized for its new use. We invite Kevin Bunker of Developers Collaborative to accept the award for outstanding adaptive reuse of the Nathan Clifford School. I tell you, I don't know where Portland would be if we didn't have these very committed developers shaping and redesigning and keeping Portland together. And I get to talk about the last one here, which is a favorite of mine. Finally, we want to recognize an adaptive reuse project that celebrates the Bo Arts building in the heart of Portland. The original Portland Press Herald building was constructed in 1924, the most modern newspaper plant in New England at its time. When the paper relocated in 2010, the building sat vacant for two years before its adaption into a hotel. The hotel incorporates creative features that convey its history, including real-press Herald headlines that wallpaper the hallways, objects like steel rollers and scales, and an installation of typewriters scattered across the lobby wall. Very cool. The combination of rehabilitation of a historic building and creative branding around its history sets the project apart from others. We recognize the entire team who enacted a clear vision, the ambitious project that honors this building's important role in Portland's history. I invite developer Jim Brady, John Ryan of Right Ryan Construction, Kevin Gough of Archetype Architects to accept this award for the Press Hotel. Thank you. So thank you so much to all of the award winners tonight for believing in the importance of preservation and for doing the hard work to make it happen. These projects require a tremendous energy, persistence, creativity, and I think faith, as we can see in this building, to make them happen. And we'd like to commend everyone and everyone in the design and construction teams who made these projects happen. So let's give them another round of applause.