Minutes of the August Meeting of the WCNRC

The Winston County Natural Resources Council met on August 20, 2015, at the U. S. Forest Service office in Double Springs.  The following members were present:  Andy Baril, Mike Henshaw, John Creed, James Burnett, Matthew Brock, and John Sudduth.  The following topics were discussed:

• Balance in the treasury is $6,134.06, per an e-mail from treasurer, Johnna Franks.
• Discussed the Forest Stewardship Conference that will be held on September 16, at Bevill State Community College in Jasper.  The conference will have 7.5 Professional Logging Manager credits and 6.0 CFE for Registered Foresters.  There is no registration fee, but registration is required.  A letter is being sent to the Winston County logger mailing list to make loggers aware of the program.  Andy said over 120 people attended last year's conference.
• FAWN dates were discussed, October 8-9, and October 22-23, were proposed, but will have to be approved by the school systems.  
• James Burnett said that impending state general fund budget cuts could cause the closure of many county Emergency Management Agencies across the state.  The legislature will meet soon to consider the budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1.
• The council is still working on a tour of the barrel stave mill in Stevenson, and the barrel making factory in Decatur.
• Andy said there will be a major shortleaf pine meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee, and that there will be more educational activities about planting shortleaf pine in Alabama during the next year.
• Matthew said there would be a special hog hunt on the Black Warrior Wildlife Management Area on September 5-19.  He also noted that there would be an early rifle hunt for deer in Zone B of the Black Warrior WMA on November 13-14.  He expects the early rifle hunt to be very popular with hunters across the state.  Matthew said the WMA staff is also preparing wildlife openings for planting this fall.
• The North Alabama Forestry Tour will be held in Cullman this year.  The dates for the tour will be posted as soon as possible on the WCNRC blog.

Mike Henshaw
Secretary, WCNRC