President's Letter - Scott Jecker, Winter, 2005

As I look back on our past year I am thankful to have been a part of such an energetic, hard-working Executive Board and am most excited about our Chapter’s growth. We hosted multiple training classes, put out several newsletters to keep our members informed, and became involved in our first “public” project by assisting with the restoration and creation of tidal wetlands in Texas. We have become more involved than ever before in our communities.

Our Chapter meeting in Pensacola this year was a huge success despite a number of storms and hurricanes that pounded the Gulf Coast. Our meeting this year was a joint Chapter meeting with the South Atlantic Chapter of the Society of Wetland Scientists as well as the Gulf Estuarine Research Society (GERS). The storms and hurricanes seemed to perpetually postpone/cancel our meeting, however, we managed to somehow stick with it and make it all happen, largely thanks to Darrin Dantin and his diligent crew. They planned the meeting twice…literally. There were approximately 200 attendees at this years meeting to participate in some great trips, discussions, and papers…not to mention the night life!!! We hope to meet back up with GERS in the future.

I want to thank our Executive Board; Paul DuBowy - Immediate Past President, Jeff Raasch – President Elect, Matt Stahman – Secretary/Treasurer, and the Executive Board Members: Gary Ervin, Bob Nairn, and Carol Thompson. They are a great team to work with when trying to grow a Chapter such as ours. It takes a lot of volunteer time and effort to deal with SWS issues. Everyone has a “normal job” and a family at home that require a lot out of them so making time for SWS is difficult to do sometimes. They deserve kudos not only for taking a risk with some of the new activities proposed for the Chapter but also for pushing me when I needed it and helping grow this Chapter.

I look forward to good leadership from Jeff Raasch and the Executive Board. I am sure they will continue to take the South Central Chapter of the Society of Wetland Scientists new places.

Scott W. Jecker CWB, PWS
President 2004-2005