The Bitterroot Conglomerate MARCH Volume XXXVI Issue 3

Mission Statement 

Our purpose is to promote interest and education in earth sciences namely geology, mineralogy, pale-ontology, the lapidary arts and related subjects. We also support promoting and ensuring the right of amateur hobby collecting, recreational rock hunting and the use of public and private lands for educational and recreational purposes related to the earth sciences. 


Vice Presidents Column

I have been getting a lot of questions about field trips there will be a tentative list at the March meeting. One question I get every year is what should you bring on the trips; Layer your clothing it will be cold in the morning when we leave and usually hot by early afternoon, Sunscreen, Bug Spray, Sturdy hiking shoes (open toe shoes, sandals, flip flops, etc. are not recommended for safety reasons), Lots of Water, Lunch (bring more than you normally eat, you will get extra hungry going up and down the mountain), Small Hammer (Rock hammers are great but claw hammers work well too), Something to pack your newfound treasure in (backpack, bucket, little wagon), Small brush (Little hand broom, paint brush, or the like), Safety Glasses or impact resistant sunglasses. This is just a basic list to get you started. On a final note don't forget that our spring potluck will be April 9th!

Submitted by, Ed Kubu     

BGMS Vice President 


Minutes from February 9, 2019

President Faith Farley called the meeting to order at 2:10 p.m. and then the Pledge of Allegiance. 

The approval of the January minutes was postponed because of Ralph Luther’s computer issues.  Please check your SPAM if you have not received the newsletter.  


Treasurer’s report was given by Wayne Farley. The audit was done by Wayne and Darrell Coyle in January 2019. Wayne proposed to accept the bank’s balance of the club’s account. This was voted on and approved. Deb Strickland motioned to accept the treasurer’s report and Jim Hudspeth seconded. It passed.   

Faith Farley has asked Ed Kubu, our Vice President, to do a Vice President’s column in our newsletter.  

A reminder that our newsletter does cost our club and if it is over the minimum amount of pages, the members will be charged for the extra if they do not want it emailed. Faith also attaches the entire newsletter on our website. 


Show Committee update was given by Deb Strickland. Our space at the fairground has been paid for and 41 vendor letters have been sent out.  There are 15 paid vendors so far and we have limited the number of vendors to 22. The next show committee meeting will be February 27th at Faith’s house. 

   
OLD BUSINESS:  
Jim Hudspeth, Sean Jackson, Ed Kubu, and Faith Farley will go through the historical bins and put what they can on a flash drive for posterity. They are waiting for the weather to get better (hopefully by March) before they go to the shed. 


Remember to please pay your dues if you have not done so!  

NEW BUSINESS:  
Reminder that this is our last Saturday meeting for the winter.  March meeting will be on Tuesday, the 12th at 6:30.    

Daly Days is approaching:  Kristin Martinez  has volunteered to head this up.  

Wayne Farley received an email from the American Lands Access Association about field trip access issues.    
Ed Kubu is working on the field trip schedule and should have it for the next meeting. He also announced that the Flint Knapping at Bass Creek will be June 19-25, 2019.    

Wayne Farley delivered the black light and case to the Natural History Museum in Missoula, Monday, February 4th.  

Faith Farley brought several old photos of club members for viewing and/or taking.    

Our 50/50 winner this month was Bill and Kathy Meuchel. 


Kathy Meuchel made the motion to adjourn the meeting at 2:58 p.m. and Deb Strickland seconded. 


Respectfully submitted,  

Dana Jong, Secretary 


FIELD TRIP COMMITTEE:  Field trips are being worked on and we will hopefully have a list by the March 12th meeting.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE:  Need more volunteers to present a short program at our meetings. This need not be a program of more than 20 minutes and it should be a subject that will be of interest to those that like minerals, rocks, crystals, gold panning, jewelry making, or making anything with rocks. 

SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE: No report.

SHOW COMMITTEE: See report in listed in the minutes.

MT COUNCIL COMMITTEE: No report.

N.W. FEDERATION REPORT:  Look in your Federation newsletter for Shows in the Northwest that you might want to attend. 


Communication from Wayne Farley;
Recently some of our members requested paper copies of the NFMS Newsletter be sent to them. I told Faith Farley that the NFMS only sent two copies to each club, to designated members. I sent an email to the  NFMS to confirm that policy. I was wrong. Attached is the current NFMS Newsletter policy to include in your next Newsletter. I sent this update to Faith.

The NFMS is proud to provide a printed copy of the Newsletter to each and every member of the Federation. None of the other Regional Federations do so. However, this makes the Newsletter the largest line item expense for the federation, and so the federation decided some time ago to offer the Newsletter via the 'web', and make it downloadable from the NFMS web site. The more people we can convert to the electronic version will make the cost of printing and mailing go down. About the only proscription is to send only one copy to each address, though more than several individual members may live at one address. 


For my club here in Ogden, when a member joins, if they provide an e-mail address on their application, we automatically provide electronic versions of our club bulletin, and the NFMS Newsletter, UNLESS, they request a hard copy. If you don't ask the question, they can't say 'no'. If you have any other questions do not hesitate to ask. 

Tom Burchard    

NFMS Circulation Chair