FOS meeting -- 1 September 2004

The FOS steering committee  meeting was held at the Schooner Club and commenced at 7 PM.  In attendance were Ed Pontbriand of the NPS, Bill Zoellick, Dirk Faegre, Earl Blackney, Deedee West, Burt Allaire, Nancy Horschak, Jay Horschak, Tom Mayer, Ruth Sargent, Fran Rhodes, Bill Stone, Rosemary Levin, Garry Levin, Jim Wagner, Pauline Angione, and Kate Petrie of the Park Service.

Discussion of Friends of Acadia Proposal

In August, Dianna Emory, chairman of the Friends of Acadia Board, and Ken Olson, Friends of Acadia president, invited the Friends of Schoodic officers, along with Bill Stone of Schoodic Futures, to a meeting in Salisbury Cove to discuss the possibility of bringing the two organizations together.  After that meeting Bill Zoellick created a detailed summary of what was discussed, which was sent to FOA for review.  Ken and Dianna agreed that this was a fair summary of the meeting.  That same summary was sent to all FOS steering committee members.   The summary included a list of five issues that might be considered as important by FOS as it evaluates the proposal.  This list of five concerns is attached at the end of this report as an aid in creating a list of questions that FOS wants to ask FOA.

The pros and cons of bringing FOS within the FOA structure were the primary focus of this September 1 meeting.  What follows is a summary of most of the statements on this topic made by steering committee members.

Bill Stone strongly opposes the idea of a merger on the basis of the information that he already has.  He began by announcing that FOS has a check for $2,000 from the Maine Community Foundation in order to establish FOS as an independent organization.  He views this as both an opportunity for FOS to establish its own identity, and as a commitment to the Maine Community Foundation to do so, insofar as FOS applied for the MCF grant in order to establish its independent existence.

Stone also provided the steering committee with a written statement titled "Response to FOA Proposal (Walmart proposes  merger with Young's Market)" that spells out the reasons he is against the merger of the organizations. (A copy of Bill's statement is included here.)  He said that there is nothing in the proposed merger that FOS needs or wants. He said that, on the other hand, from the FOA standpoint there were some real advantages.  In particular,  "one of the key things is that there wouldn't be an organization over here taking a position contrary to theirs."

Nancy Horschak spoke next, taking an view opposite of Bill's.  She siad that she isn't sure how an FOA/FOS merger would be bad for Schoodic, since we presumably share the same mission.  She also said that she did not see the value of autonomy, in itself.  She doesn't see where the concerns of Schoodic area residents would necessarily be lost.  "We are part of Acadia National Park"

Dirk agreed that we should all be in it for the Park, and expressed hope that we stick with that focus. But he has had bad experience with having his small firm acquired by a larger one, and so is suspicious.  He recounted this business experience, and said that he approached the FOA/FOS merger with deep suspicions about motive, and so had many questions that he will want to have answered.

Jay wanted to talk about more about the autonomy issue.  He could see that there might be a bone of contention about the payment of fees on Schoodic. But beyond that, autonomy is largely a myth.  We are largely dictated to by the Park in many of our activities.  Further, Friends of Acadia has been clearly interested in keeping Schoodic as a place for solitude -- which seems consistent with FOS's values

Deedee asked whether the question was not, in fact, whether we were interested in hearing what they have to say.  Were we trying to decide this now, in advance of getting more information directly from FOA?  Weren't we, instead, really just trying to decide whether we wanted to invite FOA to speak to the steering committee, so that we could hear more?

Jeanie expressed concern with how and whether FOS, without alliance of some sort, can manage to do the fund raising, membership development, and so on.  She said that she sees real limits to FOS's ability to do all that it is currently doing, while at the same time taking on new responsibility for more fund raising and membership development.  She feels that, in some ways, working within FOA would free us to focus more on Schoodic while achieving our objectives of growing and having greater impact.

Tom noted that the powerful, good thing that has happened over the past two years is that FOS has built a cohesive group of volunteers.  The question on his mind was whether that would be lost in an FOS/FOA merger.

Ed Pontbriand said that losing that cohesion seemed unlikely -- the local group that works here is likely to be the local group that still works here.  The bigger question is "where do you want to be 5 years from now?"  Would being part of FOA make that work better?

Fran Rhodes wanted to reinforce the idea that this is a formative time for FOS -- while FOA has extended an invitation, Fran noted that there does not need to be a compulsion to join now or next year.  In Fran's view, it is too early for an organization as young as FOS to think in term of combining with anyone.  Because FOA is in Bar Harbor cannot possibly feel as strongly about things over here as we do.  She also spoke to the issue of there being too much dependence on Tom and Jeannie -- and offered to help share the load.  She also has concerns about FOA's motives, and needs to hear from them what there motivation is for wanting to seek an alliance.

Garry said that his concern was how the organization can grow beyond nuts and bolts issues to get to the point where it can really have some influence on issues.  He also noted that FOA and FOS seem to mostly be headed in the same direction.  As for differences of opinion, he noted that we already have those within FOS, and have learned to resolve them

Tom offered a list of issues that he sees as important to FOS:

• SERC
• clean oceans
• groundfishing
• private lands adjoining the park on Schoodic

He noted that most of these could be effectively pursued within FOA.

Earl said that he felt that the timing of the FOA invitation to join them is suspicious. We are just now talking about establishing the organization as independent.  Why is it now that FOA comes to speak with us?  Why not continue to go further down the road as an independent organization instead of being swallowed up?

Nancy responded to Earl's expression of concern by saying that she does not see a merger with FOA as the end of FOS.  She thinks more of FOA as a potential umbrella, rather as someone taking something away.  Why wouldn't we have a voice and role in shaping this growth of FOA into a more inclusive organization?  She said that she sees the arrangement as a potential partnership.  She felt there there was a lot of cynicism about FOA's motives, a cynicism that she doesn't share.

Jay noted that the difference of opinion here is partly a function of how and where one sees the threats.  It is clear that some people see FOA as a threat to FOS.  He is very concerned about some other threats, such as land issues, SERC, and so on -- and asks himself how we can be more effective in addressing these things.

Ed suggested that one goal for this present meeting might be to create a laundry list of issues to talk about with FOA.

Pauline said that, when she was working on the nominating committee for FOS officers last year, many people said they didn't have time or couldn't serve.  So, she shares Jeanie's concern about how to not just maintain the organization, but also grow it.  

Speaking to a different concern, Pauline said that she sees an issue with regard to organizational role and identity.  She suggested that, as a way of understanding what FOS is trying to do, we should turn the question around and ask why are we NOT a part of FOA?  What is it that differentiates FOS that makes it essential to build a larger, better financed separate organization? Pauline said that if the organization chooses to pursue a separate existence and raise funds as a separate entity--and get public attention and legitimacy as a separate entity--it had better have a crisp answer to that question. She said that this would be particularly important in fund raising, since the question of "Why should we fund this organization when we already support FOA?" is a legitimate question that deserves a clear answer. If, on the other hand, FOS finds that its purpose and mission is more like that of FOA than it is different, then, in Pauline's opinion, that would be an important reason to look seriously at a merger -- to more effectively pursue the larger good of protecting the Park.

Deedee noted that, over the past hour of discussion, there seemed to be a presumption that FOA was up to something and was some kind of enemy.  She found this extremely surprising, since she thinks of FOA as being "stellar". She added, "This is not Halliburton that we are talking about."

Jay spoke to FOA's focus on easing transportation problems in the park.  They have invested a lot in that. He wondered whether they might be interested in pushing Island Explorer things over here.  Still thinking about autonomy and possible "bones of contention," he noted that FOS has not been generally supportive of more busses and more visitor traffic on Schoodic.

Jeannie expressed concern over the process of trying to make a list of hard questions to ask FOA.  She suggested that we need to be careful, in making a laundry list issues, not be so focused on negative issues that we convince ourselves, in advance, that this is a bad idea and must be rejected.

Although there was substantial interest in the group for continuing the discussion about what might be potentially wrong with the FOA merger idea and what questions needed to be asked of FOA to allay suspicions and concerns, Tom noted that it was already well past 8 PM, and that we ought to think about how to wrap this up.  What, at minimum, needed to be accomplished in this particular meeting, on this night?

The list of immediate objectives emerged as follows:

• FOS should send an invitation to FOA, asking them to suggest some possible dates for a meeting.
• We need a date that works for FOA and a large number of steering committee members.
• The group should prepare a list of issues/questions to raise at the meeting.

Fran agreed to take responsibility for the last item, and agreed to convene a meeting of people to create a list of issues and questions to ask of FOA.  The meeting will be at 6 PM  at Fran's house (457 Paul Bunyan Road) on the 13th of September.  Fran's home phone is 963-8877.

Bylaws

Tom suggested that we postpone action on bylaws, particularly action that involves spending money, until the FOA issue is resolved.  General agreement

Clean Oceans Initiative

Tom suggested that Bob Babcock and Jay Horschak draft a letter in support of the Clean Oceans Initiative, for approval by the group.  General agreement.

Clean Up

There will be a general clean up on October 2, starting at 9 AM, out at Frazer Point.

Trails

Kate's group of teenagers will work on the Sundew Trail.  FOS needs to place some logs in the wet areas before this begins.

The Alder trail needs trimming.

Drainage adjustments are needed on the Ranger trail heading down from Schoodic Head.

Also, there is much more usage than expected on Little Moose Island -- and more social trails.  This is a general problem that needs to addressed before next year.  This is not an immediate FOS issue, since Ed and the Park need to formulate a plan about what to do first.

SERC update

Money is being used from DOD funds to improve the dormitory -- making it ADA compliant and more.  This is coming in at 200,000 to $300K more than expected.  So, money is being reprogrammed.  Construction will start next Spring.

The commissary is the next on the list of buildings to be refurbished.  (This will be the conference center)

Third on the list is the Medical Building.  Here the plan is to get the infrastructure working and to depend on grants from the groups that are using it to actually make it into an appropriate laboratory.

There is wireless capability throughout the Schooner Club and other buildings.

This summer saw quite a number of programs here.  Most recently the Penobscot Indian nation conducted a language learning program.

The meeting adjourned at 9 PM.

Five Concerns Regarding a Potential FOA/FOS Merger

Here is a list of governance and communication issues that FOS discussed with FOA at the meeting in Salisbury Cove.  As secretary, I sent this list to Ken Olson and Dianna Emory on August 23rd, after the August 19th meeting.  I noted, in that original memo to FOA, that this list is not necessarily exhaustive (as the subsequent FOS steering committee meeting confirmed).  These are only the issues that emerged in the immediate context of that first  meeting.  When there is a reference to "I" or "my" in this memo, this reference is to me, as author of the memo.

-- Bill Zoellick

1. Continued Operation of a Local Group:  It is critical to FOS’s objectives and, we think, to FOA’s objectives, that there continues to be a local group of Schoodic volunteers that meets and makes decisions with regard to day-to-day volunteer operations in the Schoodic District. It cannot be that Schoodic-based volunteers have to look to MDI in organizing Schoodic area activities.
   
   We believe that there is complete agreement on this point as a general concept. What would need to be worked out, however, is how such a group would fit within the FOA governance structure, as well as what powers it would have.
   
   Speaking for myself, it does not seem that this should be a difficult problem. It seems like existing committee provisions of the FOA By-Laws would provide a mechanism for handling this. The most important issue will be to get the delegation of powers right.
     
2. Continued Engagement of Schoodic Group in Strategic Issues: In addition to providing a way for the Schoodic group to manage local trail work, clean ups, and other volunteer activities, there needs to be a way to expand engagement within the Schoodic communities in more strategic issues.  Acknowledging in advance Ken’s reservations about the Sierra Club’s governance structures (I was Oklahoma Chapter Chairman for a couple of years, as well as working on various national Club committees), I would also note that the Sierra Club does manage to blend local conservation efforts into a broader national framework  Perhaps FOA could, similarly, find a way to support local meetings within the framework of a more centralized effort.
   
   This is an important area in which to do more thinking.  If satellite groups off of MDI are only dealing with tactical support, and are not engaged in strategic concerns, I believe there could be a net loss in impact.
     
3. Involvement of Schoodic in FOA Governance:  Ken suggested that someone from Schoodic should be on the FOA Board.  Certainly.  But it seems that, if FOS became part of FOA, there should also be some formal mechanism to tie resolutions and decisions from the Schoodic entity into the FOA decision making process.  In FOA, the members do not vote and are not directly involved in governance unless they sit on the Board.  However, part of establishing a meaningful distributed structure, beyond the shores of MDI, would seem to require giving voice to the satellite groups, if only in an advisory way.  This needs more thought … but it is important to the balance between centralized control and broader engagement.
    
4. Combined Fundraising Efforts:  The FOS steering committee has growing evidence that there are Park visitors and supporters who value Schoodic, as a unique part of ANP, and who will provide financial support targeted to this area.  If FOS became a part of FOA, it would be in the interest of all of us to continue to communicate with these supporters, to address their concerns, and to build on their willingness to support special areas of the Park.  Ken suggested that such mechanisms are already at least partially in place.
    
5. Newsletters/Magazines/Websites:  Ken and Dianna suggested that if we brought the groups together there should be a regular column in the Friends of Acadia Journal that reports on Schoodic activities and issues.  We also discussed the idea of continuing to send occasional photocopied newsletters, of the kind that FOS has sent in the past, to people who have indicated that they have special interest in the Schoodic group.  Similarly, it might make sense to continue to have a Schoodic related website—or a Schoodic area on the FOA website—to report on meetings, volunteer work and other activities in the Schoodic Area.  These are all potentially good ideas.  It may be important, from the standpoint of the FOS steering committee, to get commitment from FOA on such matters.