[OHIOBWG] Special communication about MWBWG 2020 meeting and COVID-19

[Titchenell, Marne]

FYI - please read - important information about the upcoming MWBWG in light of COVID-19.


[The Ohio State University]
[cid:image002.jpg at 01D5BA80.6BBD5C90]

Marne A. Titchenell
Wildlife Program Specialist, OSU Extension
School of Environment and Natural Resources
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH 43210

614-292-0402  Office
titchenell.4 at osu.edu<mailto:titchenell.4 at osu.edu>  woodlandstewards.osu.edu<https://woodlandstewards.osu.edu/>  senr.osu.edu<https://senr.osu.edu/>



Dear MWBWG Community,

The MWBWG Board of Directors had a conference call today to discuss concerns about our upcoming annual meeting in Missouri with respect to COVID-19. At this time, we are still planning on holding the meeting as scheduled on April 6-7. We will continue to monitor CDC and MO Department of Health recommendations, as well as travel restrictions at various agencies. In the event that we decide to cancel the meeting, we will announce it no later than 4 pm EDT (3 pm CDT) on Monday, March 23rd. An announcement will be sent to all registrants, as well as the MWBWG list-serve, MWBWG website, and MWBWG Facebook page. If we do cancel, we will refund registration fees to anyone who has registered, including sponsorship/table fees to sponsors and vendors. Due to the lead-time needed to plan a conference, if we must cancel the April meeting we will not be able to reschedule for any later date in 2020. Please note that the conference hotel (Fairfield Inn of Jefferson City: 573-761-0400) requires 48 hours advance notice to receive a refund for cancellation of reservations. If the meeting is cancelled, you will need to contact them before the deadline to avoid being charged.

We sincerely hope we will not need to cancel. The Board of Directors has agreed that we want to be sure we have a clearly defined plan that protects the health of our members and the community at large, while also keeping members informed so you can plan your meeting travel with confidence. We are looking forward to having another productive annual meeting this year!



Reminders for MWBWG members and conference attendees:

-        Please remember to vote for your Board of Directors choices by 12 midnight EDT (11 pm CDT) on April 4, 2020:
http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=5e6267cae4b019ec6882d4cb<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.easypolls.net%2Fpoll.html%3Fp%3D5e6267cae4b019ec6882d4cb&data=02%7C01%7Cbrianne.walters%40indstate.edu%7C62cbd02e8bcc4cd1e2eb08d7c1e06b27%7C3eeabe396b1c4f95ae682fab18085f8d%7C0%7C0%7C637191041929920978&sdata=FCXDfHzsp8fAE3oWpJFJ84XQIZZgR%2FOh9t902%2FnNRbI%3D&reserved=0>

-        There is still time to nominate a member for the Dave Redell Lifetime Achievement Award (Due March 16, 2020):
http://www.mwbwg.org/awards-and-scholarships

-        Abstracts for the April meeting are due this Friday, March 13 at 5 pm EDT (4 pm CDT):
Send your abstracts to both Joseph Johnson (jjohnson at ohio.edu<mailto:jjohnson at ohio.edu>) and Allen Kurta (akurta at emich.edu<mailto:akurta at emich.edu>).

-        Please remember to renew your annual membership ($25 professional / $15 student)*:
https://mwbwg.org/store/
               *Please note that membership fees are separate from meeting registration fees. They
cover basic annual operations, such as website costs.

-        Early registration rates ($56 professional / $31 student) run through March 16, 2020. After that time, late registration rates apply ($76 professional / $51 student).
http://mwbwg.org/2020-meeting



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/ohiobwg/attachments/20200311/bb0e4bca/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 3606 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/ohiobwg/attachments/20200311/bb0e4bca/attachment-0002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 27065 bytes
Desc: image002.png
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/ohiobwg/attachments/20200311/bb0e4bca/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: COVID19and2020meeting-FINAL.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 148476 bytes
Desc: COVID19and2020meeting-FINAL.docx
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/ohiobwg/attachments/20200311/bb0e4bca/attachment-0001.docx>