At the April 18 meeting our members overwhelmingly endorsed the nominees recommended by the Nominating Committee. On June 1, Bill Mees (President) and Eric Seaman (Treasurer) will begin two-year terms, and Lori Hagglund will begin a three-year term as Director.

April 21, 2012 was a busy day for 14 CAS members, the TreeKeepers, and Parks & Recreation Department personnel. 45 people skipped their Saturday morning quiet time to converge on Bonnie View Nature Sanctuary and continue the process to restore a former farm to Columbia’s future Nature Sanctuary.

Bonnie View Nature Sanctuary got a face lift that morning. Over 300 yards of old farm fencing, barbed wire, and steel fence stakes were removed and stacked ready for recycling. All the while, the TreeKeepers were planting a variety of saplings on the hillside next to the soon to be planted prairie. The saplings supplied by Missouri Department of Conservation are all native to Missouri, of course.

Soon the concrete will be poured for the ADA accessible paved trail around this first section that will be restored to native prairie. Stakes tied with day glow ribbon mark the future location of the toilet facilities and the shelter. These are scheduled to be completed this summer.

CAS is proud to be a partner and neighbor with Columbia’s Parks and Reaction Department as we all move from the planning stage to the implementation stage. Things are beginning to take shape on the ground and CAS is ready to help. Parks & Recreation staff have also begun to lay out their natural surface foot trails. Trails within Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary are already cleared for the planned connection of “Ours” and “Theirs.”

The following members attended: Eric Seaman, Dave Bedan, Glenn Pickett, John Besser, Doug Miller, Allison Vaughn, Lottie and Mike Bushman, Julie and Ted Fisher, Marge Merideth, Bill Mees and Becky Gerdes and son, Reed Gerdes. Well done to you all!

- Bill Mees