[mou] Sportsmen's Show in St Paul wants to have a Birding Room

[Alt, Mark]

In my capacity as President of the MOU I met with members of the DNR,
Mark Martell and the group that puts on the Sportsmen's show each year.
It is to be held Tuesday March 28 to Sunday, April 2.
The group wanted us to sponsor a room promoting and offering info on
birding and birds in MN. Minnesota Audubon and I thought it was
inappropriate for our organizations to sponsor a boat show, so that fell
off the table, but then the DNR stepped forward and offered to sponsor
it. This presents an interesting option for our members. If anyone
wishes to volunteer to staff this booth and answer questions (a la State
Fair Booth), they would get free admittance to the show that day ($9.00
value). The Mou would be welcome to distribute any materials we have and
they are also interested in speakers on Bird topics to do seminars. =20
I think this is a great opportunity for our members who enjoy hunting
and boating to get in to the show free and for others who enjoy manning
these functions to do so, without any outlay of funds or official
endorsement from the MOU. We would be allowed to sign people up if we
wish for the Mou and we may have internet connectivity which would give
us a chance to showcase our webpage and our seasonal reporting functions
that are in use now. I will serve as the organizing representative for
the MOU (unless someone else wants it), and I would like to issue an
open call for interested people on MOU net and MN Bird so I could keep
interested people in the queue to be a part of this. =20
Carrol Henderson feels that if this shows promise, there
may be a future for a "Birding" show, which we could definitely align
with. =20
This is the first step towards that opportunity and I feel it is
vital we are involved in some way. Please contact me if you have any
questions or if you want to be involved in some way, either in the
planning or the staffing of the event.

Mark Alt=20
President,=20
Minnesota Ornithologists Union
J. F. Bell Museum of Natural History
University of Minnesota
10 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0104
MOU.mn.org
mark.alt@bestbuy.com
Cell:  612-803-9085