Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The 2007 meeting of WERA011 was adjourned at 1pm on Thursday, September 20th, in the Colorado State room of the Fort Collins Hilton. The meeting began with introductions. The first order of business was the review and approval of the agenda (found below, and distributed by email prior to the meeting). There were no additional agenda items proposed; it was noted that the historian's report would not be presented. MOTION AND SECOND TO APPROVE AGENDA; PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. The minutes from the 2006 meeting in Las Cruces NM were read from the NIMSS website. MOTION AND SECOND TO APPROVE THE 2006 MEETING MINUTES; PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Steve Wallner, administrative adviser, offered a welcome to all. He noted the overall productivity of the group was very good. The importance of reporting minutes in a timely fashion and reporting accomplishments (in NIMSS) was mentioned. This will be discussed in further detail tomorrow. There was some discussion as to the reasons for the low attendance at the current and 2006 meeting. He noted that other working group meetings he has attended recently have had similar problems. This meeting traditionally had been held in June, but a change to a fall meeting was suggested a couple of years ago in an effort to attract higher seed industry attendance. The location and timing for the 2008 meeting will be discussed tomorrow. There was some brief discussion as to how to best collect accomplishment information from participating members; Tony Koski now does this mainly by reviewing CRIS reports from participating institutions. State Reports began following a short break. Texas A&M University Milt Engelke announced that he has become an administrator. He introduced his replacement, Dr. Ambika Chandra. Milt reported on a system that he and others at the university have put in place to streamline the development of new turf cultivars - to include working cooperatively with other institutions. Ambika Chandra introduced herself, as a very new faculty member at Texas A&M. She described her background (Penn State, with David Huff) and briefly discussed what directions her work at A&M might take. Washington State U. Bill Johnston briefed us on work that Gwen Stahnke and Eric Miltner were doing at WSU (in their absence). He described his work at Pullman, and also discussed the teaching (including forages) he does there. U. Arizona David Kopec reported on work being done at AZ by himself and Mohamed Pessarakli, concerning the salinity tolerance and comparative ET rates of saltgrass, seashore paspalum and bermudagrass. The meeting was adjourned for the day. An evening social was held at the Annual Demonstration Gardens. A BBQ dinner, sponsored by Arkansas Valley Seed Solutions (Brian Gueck), was served. Dr. Jim Klett provided a short presentation on the history of the garden and how the flower trial research is conducted. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 The meeting reconvened at 8:30 at the Hilton, with a buffet breakfast sponsored by Ewing Irrigation (Larry Perotti). State reports continued. U. Nebraska Roch Gaussoin reported on soil organic matter/soil microbial activity research being conducted in sand root zones. He also discussed the formation of a new major (Turf and Landscape Management) being proposed at UNL. Colorado State University Yaling Qian reported on her work with saltgrass rooting depth, water use and seed germination enhancement. She also described her work with effluent effects on golf course tree species. Dana Christensen reported on his Ph.D. work on the development of turf-type saltgrass varieties. Tamla Blunt described her research with the snow mold diseases on mountain courses, including the identification of numerous strains - and the observation that strains differ in sensitivity to chlorothalonil. She also discussed her work with snow cover effects on snow mold fungicide efficacy. Leah Brilman reported on the state of the grass seed industry. Due to the effects of demand for corn (for ethanol production), more grass seed farmers are putting their fields into corn or wheat. This will have a negative effect on seed production, thus resulting in shortages of some varieties and higher seed prices. Following the state and industry reports, the group discussed the future of WERA011. Unlike the NCR192 group, WERA011 does not have formal research projects that are conducted. The value of doing this was discussed. It was noted that there are already a number of cooperative projects being conducted - but not as official WERA011 projects. These cooperative projects can still be reported at Accomplishments in NIMSS. Tony Koski asked that members let him know about joint projects; he will also solicit this information via email when he has to do his reporting in NIMSS. The topic of meeting timing was brought forth for discussion. It was concluded that the fall meeting time was inconvenient for those who teach, and was quite likely the reason for poor attendance over the past 2 years. MOTION AND SECOND, TO MOVE THE MEETING TIME BACK TO JUNE; UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED. Bill Johnston tentatively agreed to host the 2008 meeting in Pullman WA. He will confirm with Tony Koski within a couple of weeks. The meeting was adjourned to allow a tour of the CSU saltgrass breeding and evaluation plots at the CSU Horticulture Research Center, for those who had time before leaving for the airport. Meeting adjourned at 11:45 on Friday, September 21, 2007. Minutes taken by Tony Koski. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Meeting Agenda Thursday, September 20th 1:00pm Introductions, agenda approval, approval of past meeting minutes 1:30-1:45 Administrative advisor comments 1:45-3:30 State reports 3:30-3:45 Break 3:45-5:00 Industry reports 5:30-7:30? Drinks and Dinner, Colorado State Annual Flower Trial Gardens Sponsored by Arkansas Valley Seed Solutions Friday, September 21st 7:30am Buffet Breakfast, Colorado State Room Sponsored by Ewing Irrigation 8:00 Historian and NTEP reports 8:30-10:00 Finish state and industry reports 10:00-10:15 Break 10:15-11:00 Status of WERA011 " Requirements for maintaining an active project/review process " Obtaining outcomes/impact statements " Extension component " Meeting attendance and scheduling " Possible regional research or extension projects 11:00-noon Open discussion related to WERA011 Noon Meeting adjourned