by Rocky Smiley (At-Large Representative, SER MWGL Chapter) and Jennifer Lyndall (President, SER MWGL Chapter)

The SER-MWGL Chapter’s Five Year Strategic Plan calls for state level membership events to be held annually within the region. These state level events are subregional membership events organized by the Chapter that are designed to be a smaller meeting/gathering of chapter members during the year. The development of the state level events was prompted by the results of two previous membership surveys that indicated chapter members wanted additional in-person opportunities to interact with other chapter members beyond that offered by the annual meeting. Our goal is to hold the state-level event within each state two years after the annual meeting is held within that state. However, we are open to hosting additional state level events to encourage networking and education among our members.

Our first state membership event was held on October 24, 2014 in conjunction with the annual meeting for the Michigan Consortium of Botanists at the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Chapter organized a workshop entitled “Careers and Professional Development in Restoration: A Student Workshop”. Chapter members led a discussion about the restoration process (how to go from concept to completion) and career advancement within different sectors (how to go from being a student to a supervisor). The workshop received positive feedback from the 34 attendees and several new members joined as a result of this workshop.

Our second state membership event is the upcoming Dayton Restoration Field Trip and Social that will be held Thursday October 1, 2015. This one day event was organized by the SER MWGL Chapter and the Five Rivers MetroParks. Join us for a day of visiting multiple ecological restoration sites that represent examples of forest, stream, wetland, and prairie restoration efforts in and around the Dayton, Ohio area and then an evening social at a local brewery. We will begin the day by meeting at 9 am at the Possum Creek MetroPark Education Center. The field trip will conclude by 5 pm and then the social will begin shortly afterwards.

Onsite registration is open and we encourage all interested participants to register online before October 1 as we cannot guarantee that we can provide transportation and box lunches to those who register onsite. Additional details regarding the field trip and social will be posted on the online registration page in the near future.