ATTENDEES

• Chair - Neil Keown – Calgary
• Co-Chair - Cody Spencer – Lethbridge (phone)
• Secretary - Andrew Baisley – Calgary
• Treasurer - Tom Habib – Edmonton
• Member at Large – Katie Morrison – Calgary
• Member at Large – Don Meredith – Edmonton
• Member at Large – Shawn Morrison - Edmonton

Member at Large – Kurt Megarry – Lethbridge (absent)

AGENDA

• Start Meeting, 10:05 AM
• Quorum:
  • 66% board members are present, and 100% of executive members
  • 23 general members in attendance
• Report of the Officers:
  • Current initiatives include:
    1. post-NCNT work with AEP
    2. Porcupine-Livingstone
       1. Importance of individual member weigh in/feedback
       2. BHA to provide high level overview

• Castle
  1. Question asked to how much work completed?
  2. How has the hunting process been (2017 season) conducted in Castle (ie. have there been any issues)? Specifically the Provincial Park portion
     1. Neil to follow up with contact
  3. Bighorn
     1. Standing committee participant- we are still trying- told to wait
     2. Dean B - Comments are not coming out of Rocky- down south
     3. In terms of park designation, BHA promoting Wildland Park Status- Hunting focus
     4. Comment: Asking for push more for wildland proportion
     5. Bighorn Area is dealt with, no matter what government, BHA is nonpolitical.
     6. User conflict, what do we mean by this? Taking an educational stance on this to the other user groups.
     7. How do we as a group be that good public face?- non hunter education
     8. Can we lobby for government for educational signage? BHA working to build those partnerships with government to see how we can assist them.
     9. Are these two concepts in contradiction to one another? Hiding /respectful hunting and educational signage?
     10. Membership has a great opportunity to lead this educational role on the landscape, we have a great role to play in this.
     11. Social media perception: explanation of how the BHA feed is managed. Perception and help with recruiting to pull folks in.
     12. Youth education- BHA Rendezvous is putting on these events. Bring back these learnings from Rendezvous, and board will discuss how to implement these learnings for Alberta.
  4. Wildland / Dogs
     1. Was largely at the discretion of the CO’s,
     2. BHA in discussion with AEP on this matter- Neil to provide update in one months’ time.
  5. Foothill Stream Crossing Partnership
     1. Will be a call for help among membership
     2. What kind of crossings to be included? Will get details on this as they become available (in about 1 months’ time).

• Alberta Prairie Conservation Partnership (under discussion)
  1. Will be another call to action for membership.
• Upcoming raffles (Yeti/Savage)
  1. BC chapter will do the import of the rifle across the border
  2. Potential difficulty for raffles in Alberta for these prizes

1. Enforcement
   1. Any feedback (about Report A Poacher, or CO officers), membership should pass along to board, which can get sent to AEP
   2. Report A Poacher (RAP) line to be used for any public land use abuses.
   3. Potential rebranding required so outdoor community knows to use the phone number/app/website.
   4. BHA to communicate this to the membership- reminder email before hunting season.
   5. AEP data driven, so the reporting of offences is very important. No calls into RAP, then the perception is no issues exist in those areas.
2. AHEIA – hunting mentorship
   1. Who finds the people who are interested in the hunting and fishing?
      1. People referred to various organizations from companies.
      2. BHA to provide mentors who would go through the AHEIA instructor programs.

• Pint night, bring non-members in.

1. Food/Field-to-table type events, as another avenue to bring in members (I.e. Hank Shaw)
2. Brewers brought into the BHA fold on collaborations- wider reach in user groups.

1. ACA
   1. Working with their executive to explore conservation projects, as well as membership
   2. South Region Public at Large representative, cannot be a BHA board member, but BHA membership is fine.

• Antelope Fencing Project
  1. Deferred from Wildfire- limited notice for BHA to provide volunteers.
  2. BHA will stay in the loop for this program in the future.
• Presentation of the Financial Statements
  1. USA vs CDN website funds question:
     1. If US website- we see no dollars
     2. If in .ca website, it all stays in Canada

• Alberta looking at organizational structures for other groups (Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl) as example.

• Election of the Board Members

2017-2018 Board of Directors

• Nick, Don, Rob, and Kevin have stepped down effective April 8, 2018
• Nominated members by Neil Keown, who confirmed that they meet BHA bylaw requirements.
• Mark Stenroos, consensus vote (board members, and attending members)
• Jordon Foote, consensus vote (board members, and attending members)
• Cornel Yarmoloy, consensus vote (board members, and attending members)
• Levi Whitney-Williams, consensus vote (board members, and attending members)
• Jeff Maclean, consensus vote (board members, and attending members)

2018-2019 Board of Directors

• Election of the Officers
  • No change in officers for 2018
• Vote on Resolutions
• No resolutions for 2018 were brought forward
• Open Floor Session:
• AFGA relationship, status.
  • Reached out to executive, no response.
  • Coordination with Fishing Chair on angling issues
• BHA advertising limited, financial constraints currently. Plan currently is to let our actions be our advertising in this near term.
• Ask the question to AEP on why retention of bear meat is not a current requirement?
  • Follow up in 4-6 weeks
• Discussion on hunting elk in Elk Island
  • Status update from Tom H. No decisions made currently.
• Are there membership objectives for the upcoming year?
  • Short Answer, no. Grow and improve our impact.

Adjourn meeting, 12:10 PM