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NEWS FROM THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS

At the 1999 annual meeting, the SCB Board of Governors (BOG) agreed that it needed to meet face-to-face more than once a year. The BOG met twice in 1999, but one of those meetings (held in February in Santa Barbara, California) was a special strategic planning session. We have decided that for the indefinite future we will meet twice annually, once in late winter and again at the SCB annual meeting. The winter meeting will focus on strategic planning and other challenging issues that we never seem to have time for in the rushed atmosphere of the annual meeting.

This winter's BOG meeting was held 19-20 February in Gainesville, Florida, hosted by Chief Financial Officer Steve Humphrey at the University of Florida's Austin Carey Memorial Forest. In attendance were 13 BOG members, three of our editors, and Amy Mathews-Amos, chair of the Media Committee. Among the issues discussed were our efforts toward greater internationalization and contact with the media, the proposal for a SCB office in Washington, D.C., and a new membership pricing structure.

We have surveyed our membership in Latin America and Europe in an effort to determine how SCB could better meet their needs. Members in both regions agree that SCB and the journal are too U.S.-biased. Latin American members like the idea of having an independent sibling society, but organizing it could take several years. A Latin American bulletin on our web page also is proposed. Few European members regularly attend our annual meetings or vote in general elections. The BOG agreed to put Spanish abstracts of papers from Conservation Biology on our web page, to be followed by French and possibly German abstracts when we find suitable translators. The BOG also agreed to pursue the idea of forming "sections" of SCB to represent members from different regions. In recognition of the need to give more attention to marine conservation issues, one such section will represent the oceans.

The BOG had a lengthy discussion about SCB committees and how they should be represented on the Board. We agreed that chairs of standing committees should be ex officio, non-voting members of the BOG and that all BOG members must serve actively on standing committees. Subsequent to the meeting, we proposed substantive changes to the Bylaws.

For many years the BOG has discussed whether to establish an executive office. One alternative is a policy office in Washington, D.C.. Another possibility is to create a business office with an executive director or coordinator. At the February meeting the BOG agreed to hire a consultant to write a report evaluating these and other options for a SCB office. With the results of that report in hand, the BOG will reconsider the issue at its June meeting.

Among other business, the BOG agreed with a proposal from the ad hoc Media Committee to build a more effective bridge between journalists and conservation biologists. Among the steps we are taking toward this goal is allowing journalists to attend our annual meetings free of charge. Fundraising to subsidize SCB's new magazine, Conservation Biology in Practice, has exceeded all expectations. Several agencies and conservation groups are official partners. The BOG agreed to a pricing structure for SCB memberships and subscriptions to publications: membership+journal+magazine= $105; membership+journal=$75 (i.e., same as currently); membership+magazine=$50; magazine only=$30; membership only=$20 ("limited" membership, which includes the newsletter). A free issue of the magazine, which will be available later this year, will be sent to all current members.

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