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LOCAL CHAPTERS REPORT

SCB's 2005 annual meeting was a resounding success for local chapters. In contrast to previous years, local chapters had a strong presence. This year we had three major activities: a highly productive annual chapter business roundtable, a new dialogue with the North America Section about chapter-section relations, and our first chapter information booth. Many thanks to all who participated or contributed to these activities. Outcomes included new resources for chapter support, growing interest in forming new chapters around the world, and plans for a chapter workshop at the 2006 annual meeting. During the past several years, the Chapter Advisors Committee has worked to strengthen chapter support and visibility in SCB, and Brasilia was proof positive of our progress.

Details about our activities are below. Please send questions or comments to Fiona Nagle, chair of the Chapter Advisors Committee, finagle@umn.edu. The chapter Web page also provides a great deal of information: www.conbio.org/SCB/Activities/Chapters/.

Chapter Information Booth

This was the first time local chapters hosted an exhibition booth, and we now plan to host a booth each year. The booth generated considerable interest in current and potential chapters and had a fairly steady stream of visitors. Posters, flyers, newsletters, and a large world map of chapter locations were contributed by seven chapters and SCB's Executive Office. The 2005 booth was hosted by the Bolivia Chapter, especially Alejandra Domic, chapter president, and Jose Capriles. Ingrid Hogle, a new chapter advisor, also helped to staff the booth. We found that the booth allowed us both to highlight an individual chapter and to promote chapters in general. Accordingly, we plan to ask a chapter based near the annual meeting location to host a booth each year.

Chapter-Section Dialogue

Steve Trombulak (President, North America Section), Alan Thornhill (Executive Director, SCB), Paul Beier (Chapter representative on the Board of Governors, 2003-2005), and Fiona Nagle (Chair, Chapter Advisors Committee) started a dialogue about potential relationships between local chapters and Regional Sections. We hope to continue this dialogue and expand it to include other Regional Sections as the number of chapters outside North America continues to increase. Steve was quite enthusiastic. He would like to hear from chapters in North America about their needs and desires for building their SCB community and providing chapter members with resources for professional development. Please send comments and suggestions to trombulak@middlebury.edu.

Initial support for chapters from the North America Section includes an offer to sponsor and coordinate a speaker for North America chapter meetings. This may be of interest for obtaining keynote speakers for chapter symposia, meetings, or seminars, and for new or struggling chapters that would benefit from a "chapter pep talk" or revitalization. In return for this support, Steve encourages chapter members to become SCB and Section members. SCB and Section membership confers the right to vote; regional policies and initiatives that have effects at the local level can benefit greatly from chapter involvement and voices. More information on Section initiatives is available at www.conbio.org/SCB/Activities/Sections/NAmerica/.

In addition, SCB chapters now have the opportunity to represent themselves at regional meetings of organizations other than SCB. Alan Thornhill has offered to support and collaborate with chapters on hosting a SCB information booth at these meetings, and Sections can be involved as well. This is an excellent opportunity for chapters to promote their group, create an educational forum, access the meeting, and strengthen their links to SCB and Sections.

Chapter Business Roundtable Highlights

Nine active and future chapters were represented at this year's roundtable. Experiences, concerns, and food were shared, and some excellent news, ideas, and projects resulted.

Chapter Activity 2004-2005

-- SCB has two new chapters. A chapter at the University of Maine became active in mid-2004. The Nairobi-based East Africa chapter, which encompasses six countries, was chartered in July 2005.

-- Chapters are being formed at Iowa State University and Ohio State University.

-- Two pairs of chapters have become "sister chapters": Bolivia and University of California, Davis, and East Africa and University of California, Berkeley.

-- We received eight inquiries to form chapters from Bhutan, China, Columbia, Pakistan, Philippines, Slovenia, and the United States (Oregon and southern California).

-- The oldest continuously active chapter, chartered in 1991, is based at Colorado State University.

-- There are now 22 active SCB chapters: 20 in North America, one in South America, and one in Africa.

-- Chapter "home ranges" vary from a single university to multiple states to multiple countries. Most chapters are about 80% graduate students, but the proportion of graduate students, undergraduates, and professionals varies.

Focus: Latin American Chapters

The Bolivia Chapter has been active for eight years. Most members of the chapter are undergraduate biology students, and approximately 25% are SCB members. The chapter has been organizing highly successful short courses on conservation biology in La Paz for undergraduates, inviting local professionals to give the presentations. The chapter charges a small fee, which they use to support their environmental education efforts in grade schools.

Seven other SCB members expressed great enthusiasm for starting new chapters in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Mexico. They hope that by starting SCB chapters in their countries they can promote environmental education among the general population and decision-makers. They also see SCB chapters as a promising way to bring together conservation professionals who currently tend to work in isolation, and also to provide much-needed professional development for students.

Please contact Fiona Nagle if you or your chapter have interest in assisting or mentoring these nascent chapters.

New Resources for Chapters

-- SCB has two new initiatives intended to strengthen our local chapters and encourage chapter members to play more-active roles in our global community; see below.

-- A guide to starting and running a SCB chapter is now available at the chapter Web site. This is a comprehensive resource created with input from active, successful chapters.

-- A chapter listserv exists for chapter officers and other interested persons. Please contact Fiona Nagle to be added or to post to the listserv.

-- SCB can provide awards for papers and presentations at chapter conferences

-- SCB's Executive Office can host individual chapter email lists. Contact Kat Powers, kpm@conbio.org, for more information. Kat is also the Executive Office Chapter Advocate and helps provide logistical support for chapters.

2006 Annual Meeting

-- Inherit / Conserve. This SCB program benefits researchers, chapters, and countries in need by redistributing used equipment such as field gear, textbooks, and lab materials. We encourage SCB members and chapters to donate and to assist with this project.

-- Sister Chapter Fundraisers. Chapters at the University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Davis are planning to raise funds to help bring members of sister chapter members in Bolivia and East Africa to the 2006 annual meeting. Free local lodging also is being explored. Other chapters are welcome to help with this effort, or to provide similar assistance to other new or sister chapters.

Chapter Advisors Committee Updates

-- Tom Sisk has succeeded Paul Beier as chapter representative on SCB's Board of Governors. Tom's term will run until the close of the 2008 annual meeting.

-- Fiona Nagle is chair of the committee.

-- Lisa Delissio has retired from the committee. Ingrid Hogle (University of California, Davis) and Eric Martin (Texas A&M University) have joined the committee.

Fiona Nagle

SEED GRANTS

Most of our local chapters are composed of students who may have trouble raising funds for events such as a seminar series or annual meeting, or for producing a brochure to attract new members. To help build the capacity of new chapters, SCB is willing to provide these groups with a grant of US$200 in each of their first two years. A "new" chapter is one that is not located within 80 km (50 miles) of another chapter that has been active for more than two years.

If your chapter is less than one year old, you can apply for start-up funds by submitting a short (two-page maximum) application that specifies (1) identity of chapter officers, all of whom must be SCB members (remember, membership rates are as low as $10), (2) the dollar amount of dues the chapter charges each of its members (you can't expect SCB to support you if you won't support yourselves!), (3) the number of chapter members, how many are members of SCB, and when the chapter became active (or re-activated), and (4) a description (maximum 500 words) of the one or two most important activities that the chapter will undertake. At least one of these activities should be annual. If your chapter does not have an approved charter, please also submit (5) a proposed charter and bylaws modified for your chapter. (Generic bylaws and charter are available at www.conbio.net/SCB/Local_Chapters_EN.asp. The Web site also gives helpful advice on the types of activities that successful chapters have undertaken.) Applications may be submitted at any time. Submit all materials to Kat Powers-Morris, kpm@conbio.org.

One year after receipt of the initial grant, the chapter may apply for an additional $200. Applications for renewal of support must include (1) an accounting of total revenue from the previous year in each of three categories, membership dues, donations, and grants, demonstrating that the chapter raised at least $200 in addition to the grant from SCB, and (2) a one-page report describing the chapter's activities, specifically its progress with respect to the primary activities described in the original application, and anticipated future activities. Future activities need not be different from current activities; the chapter might elect to pursue fewer activities more fully or to experiment with a different type of activity. The report should convey how the chapter has reflected on its first year of activities and made any adjustments it felt were necessary.

Preference will be given to applications from chapters outside of North America. Additional selection criteria are quality of the activity plans (a reasonable plan for a small number of useful activities is more impressive than a long and unrealistic list) and size of the chapter. Chapters cannot request a third year of support. This is a pilot program that will be re-evaluated during 2007-2008 and continued if most initial grant recipients have become successful local chapters.

GRANTS TO INCREASE MEMBERSHIP IN STUDENT-DOMINATED LOCAL CHAPTERS

The number of active local SCB chapters increased from 14 in 2002 to 21 as of April 2005. Our local chapters provide superb annual meetings that allow conservation biologists to exchange information and build relationships, seminars in conservation biology that raise awareness in university communities, and other valuable local services. However, although officers of local chapters are required to be SCB members, most members of local chapters are not SCB members. This pattern is especially prevalent among students, who arguably may stand
to gain more than established professionals from becoming part of regional and international conservation communities.

To address this issue, SCB is targeting a new small-grant program toward student-dominated chapters. The program encourages students to join the global community of conservation professionals and to contribute their energy and new perspectives to SCB. Because most students are likely to join at the $10 rate (no subscriptions), we do not expect to realize net revenue. The program will be a success, however, to the extent that it helps build local and global communities.

Any local chapter in which at least two-thirds of members are students may apply for a grant of up to US$150 from SCB's Executive Office. The grant may be used only to pay for or subsidize SCB memberships (with or without subscriptions). A local chapter may, at its discretion, use the grant to pay up to 100% of the cost of individual SCB memberships. For example, a chapter could use its grant to underwrite 15 memberships at the $10 level, five memberships with subscriptions to Conservation In Practice, three low-income nation subscriptions to Conservation Biology, or to subsidize 80% of the cost of two high-income nation subscriptions to Conservation Biology. An individual member of a local chapter may receive only one subsidy, which must be awarded during his or her first year of membership in the chapter and SCB.

Renewals for a second year of chapter support are not automatic; applications for continuing support must list names of individuals who received subsidies and indicate which of those individuals renewed their SCB membership after the first (subsidized) year.

Submit applications by 15 April 2006 to kpm@conbio.org. Applications must include (1) a 300-500 word description of the chapter's annual activities and (2) a list of chapter members, indicating those who are students, already members of SCB, will receive subsidies, and the total subsidy for each recipient. Preference will be given to (a) applications from developing countries, (b) chapters with a high proportion of student members, (c) chapters with a large number of members, and (d) chapters that have remained active for two or more years.

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