MEMBERS AREA
This page is for members of the Sacramento Orchid Society
ORCHID CONSERVATION PROPOSAL BY PAST PRESIDENT NICK BURNETT
Dear Friends,
I am asking for your support for an endeavor that furthers the goals of the Sacramento Orchid
Society, enhances our support for orchid conservation and honors the recent passing of a good
friend of this society, Dr. Eric Christenson. Eric has spoken to our society many times over
the past ten years and we have always been entertained and better informed as a result of his
presentations.
Last week we learned of Eric Christenson’s sudden death at age 57. At the time of Eric’s death,
I was corresponding with a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, a Columbian native,
in training to be an orchid biologist and working on his doctoral dissertation. In January at the
Paph Guild, I had listened to a talk by Dr. Christenson that advocated individuals and orchid
societies interested in doing good works in support of orchid conservation consider the direct
support of researchers and graduate students working, literally, in the field. After his very
inspiring talk I asked him if he could put me in touch with one of these deserving students and
he directed me to Rafael Arevalo at the University of Wisconsin. Rafael was preparing a trip
to Peru and Ecuador in August of 2011 and was in need of support. I corresponded with Mr.
Arevalo and, without making any promises of support, asked him to prepare a proposal for us,
a note about the nature of his research, and two letters of recommendation-one from Prof.
Christenson and one from his dissertation advisor-Dr. Ken Cameron.
Over the next month or so Rafael kept me informed of his progress and last Friday he said that
the last piece of the package he was waiting for was his letter from Eric Christenson. It dawned
on me at that moment that neither he nor his advisor had heard of Eric’s recent passing. I
conveyed the sad news and said that his advisor’s letter was sufficient. My reasoning was that
if Eric thought enough of this young man’s work to connect us in the first place, it spoke volumes
of his confidence in him.
In the attached documents you will find a letter of introduction, a budget for his trip, and a letter
of recommendation from his advisor. He is requesting $1200 to support his research trip to
South America. Our Bylaws require that any expenditure exceeding $400 and outside of the
regular budgetary expenditure must be approved by the membership. I am asking you for your
support. The board considered the request and voted unanimously to go to the membership.
Many thought it was exactly the kind of high impact project that puts all of our talk about
supporting conservation and research into action. Prof. Cameron also suggested that upon
Rafael’s return and completion of his study we could arrange to bring him to Sacramento to
report on his findings and tell us about studying orchids in South America.
With our budget relatively flush right now (reserves of over $35,000) this seems like an
appropriate expenditure. It would mean a great deal to this young man’s research and frankly
it would be a fitting tribute to Eric Christenson. I also intend to write an article for Orchids or
Orchid Digest if we approve this vote in order to encourage other orchid societies to do the
same. Please read the attached documents and email me if you have questions. A vote will be
taken at the May meeting. Thank you for your time.
Nick Burnett
BELOW ARE THE ATTACHED DOCUMENTS
38441304537841Arevalo-Researchproposal.pdf
44381304537833Arevalo-Researchproposal.pdf
39071304537822Arevalo-Letterofpresention.pdf
69671304537811Arevalo-Budgetw1200.pdf
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MEMBERSHIP SURVEY
SOS News
March 09 SOS Newsletter - Password Required
Online Membership Roster
For the time being, we have REMOVED the password protected MEMBERSHIP ROSTER due to Google somehow finding the PDF file, even tho it was encrypted and in a "do not crawl" folder on our website.
We apologize for the inconvenience of not providing this roster online for the time being, until we can safely assure our members privacy. Obviously, GOOGLE's technology and scope is ahead of the best encryption and security most websites have and do to the potential of private information being displayed on google searches, we have, at least for the time being, removed the membership roster.
The pdf file has been deleted from the site and google searches should NO LONGER be able to locate the document. The technical staff apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and we thank you for bringing it to our attention. We will update the membership as to changes in our current policy as soon as we have a solution. Thank you for understanding.