Abstract
The annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Federation of Aviculture was held on August 2, 1984 in conjunction with the national convention in Orlando, Florida. Sixty-five members of the Board were present at the meeting which was chaired by President Lee Phillips. Called to order at 8:10 a.m., the meeting moved along quickly and smoothly and all delegates were given the opportunity to be heard.
Good news early in the meeting was provided by 2nd Vice President Tom Marshall who reported that the Knapp Foundation of St. Michael's, Maryland had contributed a grant of $1,000 to our Bird Census.
State Coordinators for Iowa, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Louisiana were approved and the Board gave approval to five research grants totalling $9,785 recommended by the Avian Research Committee.
The Board mandated changes in the Bird Census in an effort to increase participation and to make it a more accurate reflection of breeding successes. The major change will be that all birds wiIJ be pre-listed by scientific name and common name and that omissions, either accidental or intentional, are the
prerogative of the respondent.
The Board re-affirmed its support of Special Advisor Dr. Richard E. Baer and the concept of the National Cage and Aviary Bird Improvement Plan by a unanimous vote.
Dr. Linda McMahan, Director of TRAFFIC (USA) had been invited to speak to the Board to explain the function of World Wildlife Fund U.S. and its invitation to A.FA. to collaborate with them in opposing trade in illegal wildlife. An ad hoc committee will be appointed to study this invitation and to investigate the advantages to A.FA. of endorsing World Wildlife Fund's proposal and to make recommendations to the Board.
The Board gave a note of thanks to Phyllis Martin for her efforts as Chairman of the 1984 national convention.
Of prime importance was a motion to increase membership fees to $20 per year with one dollar of each membership to be allocated to the Avian Research Committee and one dollar to the Conservation Committee. Also, the commercial membership fee was increased to $100 per year.
It was decided that a grant from the Conservation Committee would be
named to honor deceased member Joe de Aguiar.
Gary Lilienthal, Legal Counsel, assumed the chair to present the proposed new bylaws to the Board. An effort had been made to accommodate all who had written in with suggestions. After considerable discussion and a few changes, ballots were cast by the delegates present. A two-thirds vote of all delegates is required to pass bylaws and waivers and ballots will be sent to those delegates who did not respond to the initial mailing or who were not present at the Board meeting.
Chief Financial Officer Janice Pritchard presented the proposed budget for the year 1985 and after some discussion approval was given to a budget of $186,461.
The President asked for a motion to explore the possibility of sending an A.FA. representative to the next CITES meeting as an observer and the Board approved this proposal and partial funding for it. The CITES meeting will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina April 22 through May 3, 1985. Meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m. •