October 12, 2005
Friends of Schoodic Meeting

In attendance: Dirk Faegre, Ruth Sargent, Bill Zoellick, Bob Babcock, Nancy Horschak, Jay Horschak, Deedee West, Jane Keegan, Dan Keegan, Jeanie Wilson, Tom Mayer, Richard Barton, Anne Barton, Rosemary Levin, Garry Levin, Marla O'Byrne, Jim McKenna, Pat Matey, Bob Matey, Jim Wagner, and Pauline Angione

Friends of Acadia Report

The presidential search is underway; applications are closed. There were more than 80 applicants for the position.  There were 13 phone interviews, which narrowed the group down to 6 face-to-face interviews which will take place later this month.  The expectation is that an offer will be made in November.

SERC

Jim McKenna reported that there has been a great deal of activity this summer, most of which has been relatively short engagements. The focus now is shifting to longer term arrangements, particularly ones that can cover some of the shoulder seasons. The recent focus has been on talking with a number of universities and colleges.

Last week SERC hosted a meeting of 16 visitors from the new national park in Scotland, an event that got front page coverage in the Ellsworth American. This turned out to be a really useful interchange of ideas between business people from gateway communities in both countries.

Jim reported that funding limitations are forcing the Park to postpone any work on the dormitory building -- all available funds will be focused on converting the commissary building into an auditorium and meeting space.

Bill Zoellick noted that he is signing on as Director of Business Development for Acadia Partners. Part of his responsibility will be focused on raising funds to address some of these issues.  He referred people to the Acadia Partners website (www.acadiapartners.org) for updates on what is happening at the SERC facility.

Artists in Residence

The most recent artist in residence did a workshop and poetry reading.  This weekend there will be three artists working and providing workshops. Jim McKenna noted that the program is much stronger this year, thanks in large part to the work that Garry and Rosemary have put in.

Garry noted that next year it would make sense to put more thought into publicity. Rosemary added that it would be useful to arrange in advance for better supplies for the workshops.

Trails

Work started on the Sundew trail, but was postponed due to rain. Work will continue in the coming weeks as Bill Weidner's schedule permits.

Research

Jessica Muhlin has come back this year to do more research on tidal currents, using oranges floating in the bays around Schoodic. She is extending the research to include some input from a GPS device.

Japanese shore crabs have been found in the rocky intertidal zone off of Schoodic. This is a very aggressive, invasive species that eats many kinds of native plants and animals. This is an extension of the invasion up from Southern Maine. Jim would like to try to get some baseline data before the invasion gets going.

Blueprint and Plan Archiving

Pauline reported that the project is now at the point where sorting is nearly complete. The next phase is data entry to create the computer inventory.

SEA

The student programs are booked through November. Wendilee O'Brien and Pauline have been working with the kids on Wednesday and Friday mornings. The children are engaged in mapping projects.

Park Policy Issues -- Bob Babcock

Bob picked up the discussion of Paul Hoffman's management policy recommendations for the National Park Service from the last meeting. Marla reported that FOA has been following this issue closely, and that senior former park officials have been engaged in commenting on the issue. There is some confidence that the policy changes that were of concern will not come into play.

Marla said that there are a couple of ways that we could respond to this. One would be to simply respond as individual concerned citizens. A second would be to draft a letter as a group. She noted that the options are not mutually exclusive.

There was general desire to do both -- a letter signed by individuals and something coming from the group.

Garry moved and Ruth seconded that we send a letter as a group, subject to approval by FOA for wording.  Bob gathered signatures of individuals interested in joining in a letter that would come from concerned citizens.

Gatehouse

Gatehouse activities are now closed for the year. Tom reported that the visitor count was over 5500 from 19 countries. We provided 765 volunteer hours as part of the gatehouse work.

Thinking toward next year, Tom thought the process is pretty close to being right. There might be some need to strengthen the orientation, but otherwise we appear to have a process that is working and serving the park.

Jeanie noted that the VIP (Volunteer in Park) volunteers were in some cases a little lonely. She suggested that we make a larger effort to include these folks and make them aware of more community activities.

E-mail and Outreach

Dirk is concerned that we are sending out too many emails to too many people and asked that we discuss ways to cut this back according to people's interests.

Nancy felt that we should do more non-electronic research -- particularly posters. Tom Mayer noted that posters have worked well at bringing people to cleanups.  Bob Babcock suggested that we put together a decentralized poster distribution group.

After substantial discussion, it was decided that we continue with a single email list rather than trying to create a variety of smaller lists.

Membership Growth

Garry suggested that we plan on an event for the spring, focused on bringing people out to SERC -- focusing on local people, focusing on engaging people with this organization and with SERC.  Bob Babcock suggested a brainstorming session for the next meeting.

Commissary Clean Up

There will be a team effort to salvage equipment from the commissary before it is torn down, to be replaced with a conference center. This work will take place on November 5.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM..