2024 Annual Meeting

 Saturday, February 24.

As has been our tradition, Friends Annual Meeting will be on the last Saturday in February at Refuge headquarters, which is located off State Road 347 between Chiefland and Cedar Key. The official address is at 16450 NW 31 Pl, Chiefland, FL 32626.

Friends members do not pay a fee to attend the event, including the program, lunch, and afternoon nature walks.

The fee for those who are not Friends members is $20 per person.

Pre-program activities will start at 9:30. They include:

• Signing-in
• Renewing your membership if you wish to do it that day rather than online
• Chatting with other members
• Shopping for Friends merchandise. There will be discounts on some merchandise at the event. Cash purchases are appreciated. They allow Friends to avoid the fees for processing credit card purchases.

Again This Year

So much is happening with Friends and the Refuges that the Welcome/Outreach trailer and information tables will be set up in the grassy area in front of the log cabin office building. Members and visitors can talk to board members and other volunteers about ongoing and planned projects and programs, discuss ideas for ways in which they'd like to participate, and learn more about:

• Accessibility equipment showcased by Brandon Imhoff, the founder of Unlimited State of Ability
• Current Junior Ranger program and potential Senior Ranger program
• Progress on making Vista a Refuge highlight for visitors
• Afternoon guided walk-to-Vista options, including a demonstration of accessibility equipment, a nature walk, and a site-visit
• What is happening and envisioned on the Refuges

The tables will close during the program and reopen after the Featured Presentation while we are setting up for lunch.

The formal program in the "shop" building will start at 10:15.

• Welcome by President Ginessa Mahar
• Refuge update by Refuge Manager Andrew Gude
• Friends' update by President-elect Denise Feiber
• Election of the 2024 Board and Officers. Review the Slate here.
• Presentation by Brandon Imhoff from Unlimited State of Ability about accessibility on public lands.
• Featured Presentation by Cynthia Barnett, an award-winning environmental journalist who has reported on water and climate around the world. Her latest book, The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans, was named one of the top science books of 2021 by NPR’s Science Friday. “The seashell might seem a decidedly small foundation for a book,” The New York Times wrote, “but Barnett’s account remarkably spirals out, appropriately, to become a much larger story about the sea, about global history and about environmental crises and preservation.”

After the Featured Presentation, while lunch is being set up and served, the information and discussion tables will be open again.

Lunch will be about noon. Ken McCain will cater. A vegetarian option will also be available.

Afternoon Walk-to-Vista Exploration Options

• Walk over to see progress on the Cook's House, the changes to the site with the removal of the caretaker's doublewide trailer and unsafe two-story garage. Enjoy the property with its Suwannee River view. Tour the Main House's interior. Board members will act as docents.
• Brandon Imhoff will demonstrate the accessibility equipment, joining the walk with interested visitors to Vista.
  
• For those who prefer a nature walk, John Thalacker will guide a slow trek to Vista, focusing on the flora and fauna along the way, with a stop at the Bat House. Michael Dumas will join this walk demonstrating the accessibility equipment.
  

Here is a link to the post about last year's Annual Meeting.