May 9 2024

Actions:

• Email Sara to commit to being a potential board member.

• Email Gene f you would like to participate in the moorings input working group.

• Fill out the working groups interest survey if you have not already done so.

Upcoming meetings:

• As far as I know, MBA’s next board meeting will be Fri May 17 10:00 AM at Shed 4.

• The proposed time for the next Friends meeting is Thu Jun 6 5:30 PM at Shed 4 and on Zoom. If you would like to attend but cannot make this date/time, let me know directly.

Notes:

• Incorporation progress

  • We have four confirmed board members: Gene Brin Jr., Matthew Hodge, Philip Spillane, and Sara Smollett, as well as multiple people who have at one point or another expressed interest in being a fifth member. If you are still interested and can commit to being a board member, please email me.

  • The official name for incorporation will be “Friends of Fairchild at Magens Bay”. This will be shortened for the website URL, social media handles, etc. The expected URL will be https://friendsmagens.org/ to parallel https://friendsvinp.org/.

• Working groups

  • Moorings: The moorings input working group (Gene, Ruby, Shaun) had an initial discussion. Others who are interested in joining can reach out to Gene. We also discussed moorings extensively at this meeting. The group will take the firm position of no moorings (except for the local fisherman who are grandfathered in). We discussed the fact that this is an issue that involves MBA, VIPCA, and DPNR, and which of those groups we should direct our efforts towards, as well as others such as senators, UVI researchers, etc. Ruby will try to reach out to DPNR and find out what the current proposal actually is, as well as where it is in the process and more about how the process works. Magens Bay is one of several areas on the island that is designated as an “Area of Particular Concern”, so we would like to push on this as a reason to have it designated as no moorings & no anchoring, or at least as a reason to have a detailed environmental impact assessment.

  • Plants: A few people are interested in a project to re-label plants, or a project to get kids involved in labeling plants and increase engagement/education.

    • MBA would probably welcome this involvement, and it would be nice to be partners in something, rather than only having involvements that may be more combative.

    • Open question - Is anyone currently doing an arboretum tour?

    • Unconfirmed - Have heard that the flamboyant tree at Drake’s Seat can’t be saved and will need to be removed as it’s at risk of falling.

  • Other groups - Fill out the working groups interest survey if you can commit to any working groups.

    • Post-meeting analysis - 8 people have expressed interest in working groups, with 2-3 people expressing interest in most of the survey topics. In some cases multiple topics are likely to be merged into a single group. Each group will have an initial meeting (or other sufficient communication) to document possible work and timeframes. One possible outcome is that a group will decide that no work will be done at this time.

• Other conversations

  • Many people don’t know who Fairchild was, including Magens staff. Asked a lifeguard recently who didn’t know. This should be part of the beach staff training (it used to be). It’s important that people understand the history and intent of the beach. Maybe we can have a Fairchild awareness campaign.

  • Hoping to hear about a new general manager soon.

  • The https://magensbayauthority.org/ site was updated recently. Not much difference in content, but can no longer find a list of board members.