Note: For those who were not able to attend the Forum it will be broadcast in its entirety by Rogers TV Cable 9 at the following times: 
Fri, Feb 11^th   – 10pm and 11pm
Sun, Feb 13^th – 2:30pm, 3:30pm and 4:30pm
Mon, Feb 14^th – in the evening, immediately following broadcast of City Council meeting

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ACAP Humber Arm is pleased to announce we will be hosting a Candidates Forum on Environmental Issues, and we invited your involvement.

There are three ways you can support this Forum:

SUGGEST A QUESTION

Is there an environmentally related question you would like to see the candidates answer?  To ensure questions are non-partisan and the selection of questions asked cover the widest possible range of environmental issues there will be no questions from the floor.  All questions must be submitted to ACAP Humber Arm at speddle@acaphumberarm.com on or before Tuesday, Feb 8^th.  A selection of questions received will be posed to the candidates, by a moderator, during the Forum.  Questions will not be shared with the candidates prior.

BE IN THE AUDIENCE DURING THE FORUM

The Forum will take place 12:30 – 1:30pm, Thursday, Feb 10^th in room 301, Library Building, Grenfell Campus.  Members of the public are invited to be part of the audience, though space is limited so we advise you arrive early.  Signs, posters, placards, etc. will not be permitted at the Forum.  Tea and coffee will be provided for all our guests.

SPREAD THE WORD

Please share this email with your friends and colleagues.

Two of the three candidates in the Humber West by-election have confirmed their participation.

Be an informed voter.  Learn where our candidates stand on the important environmental issues that concern us all.

NORTH AMERICA’S MOST COMPREHENSIVE SALARY AND BENEFITS SURVEY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Key Decisions During Turbulent Times Require Great Information

Dear Environmental Nonprofit Colleague:

Now is your time to help yourself and other environmental nonprofits in North America by completing your organization’s survey.  The more environmental nonprofits that participate, the more helpful the data will be for all of us!

The Training Resources for the Environmental Community (TREC) survey for North American environmental nonprofit organizations is the only survey that will provide you with the comprehensive information needed to make employment and people decisions during these difficult economic times.  Plus, you’ll have access to information that can be used to make better, more informed decisions on your salary and benefits costs.

[CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE NOW] Participation is open to all sizes and types of environmental nonprofits—from a one-person staff to national organizations.  You must have at least one employee who works 30 hours or more to participate.

SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER—organizations that complete both the salary and the benefits section of the survey will receive your country’s full salary and benefits survey and executive summary survey free, a $268 value. 

WHAT CAN THE SURVEY HELP ME DO?

You may be asking yourself two questions at the moment:

1.  Why all the fuss about a compensation and benefits survey?

2.  Is it worth my time and resources to spend the approximately 30 – 60 minutes to complete the survey?

Although total compensation is one of the lower ranked factors of employee engagement, it quickly rises to the top of employee dis-engagement if it is off-base, significantly non-competitive, or administered inequitably within the organization.  Compensation can be a highly emotionally charged issue if it is not handled correctly.  One of the reasons total compensation is relatively low as an engagement factor is it is expected by employees to be fair and competitive.  Fair and competitive compensation is considered by many employees to be a condition of employment.

Participation in the survey helps you to know…

·         Is my total compensation package (salary and benefits) competitive?

·         Am I managing my internal compensation in a balanced process between what the organization can afford to pay and the “value” of various roles or positions within the organization?

·         As a leader, do I know if the offer I am making to a key candidate is good enough to seal the deal?

·         For USA organizations, are we in compliance with new IRS 990 compensation guidelines?

No one can know the answers to these vitally important questions without valid, timely data and the know-how to use them. 

The TREC 2011 Salary and Benefits Survey results also provide you with valuable cost and turnover data within the non-profit environmental sector for the first time.  New data items in the TREC  2011 salary and benefits survey provides compensation cost per employee, benefits cost per employee, compensation as a percentage of operating budget, benefits as a percentage of operating budget, and a breakdown of the costs of major individual benefits being offered such as healthcare.

We encourage you to take the time to complete the survey, as soon as possible, as it will greatly benefit your organization and all environmental organizations in North America.  If you have any questions or challenges during the completion of this survey, please to call or email the Bluewater Non-profit Solutions–TREC help desk.  The survey closes February 25^th.

We wish to thank our collaborative partners–Institute for Conservation Leadership, Sustainability Network, and New England Grassroots Environmental Fund–for their generous assistance in the outreach effort for this project.  We also wish to thank the Canadian HR Council for the Nonprofit Sector, for their generous support of modifications to the survey to accommodate Canadian benefits.

Thank you for helping us to create this valuable resource for the North American environmental nonprofit community.

All the best,

Dyan Oldenburg                      and                              Donna Neusch Ph.D.

Executive Director                                                      Director of Evaluation/HR Sr. Associate                    

Please sign our petition and forward to your membership lists and friends!

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/42016.html

LESS THAN THREE WEEKS LEFT TO

SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSALS ONLINE

Are you thinking of submitting a proposal to the Ecocity World Summit 2011? There’s no time to waste! The Call for Proposals deadline is January 31st.

The procedure is simple. Just go to the CALL FOR PROPOSALS section of the Summit web site, read the instructions, and click on SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL. The entirely-online submission process allows you to start your work, take a break, and come back to it later. We urge you to get your proposal in as soon as possible.

If you like, you may download the PDF version of the Call for Proposals. The document is easy to use and contains all the information you need!

Don’t hesitate to contact the Secretariat with any questions.

REMINDER: IMPORTANT DATES

January 31, 2011
Deadline for Submission of Presentation Proposals 
February 28, 2011
Opening of Online Registration for the Summit 
April 30, 2011
Notification of Proposal Acceptance
May 13, 2011
Deadline for Early-Bird Registration Rate
August 22-26, 2011
Ecocity World Summit in Montréal

Forest Management Districts 10, 11, 12 and 13, Five-Year Operating Plan (2011-2015)

Proponent: Department of Natural Resources                    (Reg.1550)

The passing of Bill 75 resulted in the expropriation and return to crown, timber lands associated with Forest Management Districts (FMDs) 10, 11, 12 and 13 previously vested to Abitibi-Bowater.  With the return of these timber lands to the crown, it was the Department of Natural Resources position that the management of these lands would be consistent with the strategies and philosophies in effect in all other crown managed districts in the province.  This plan which covers the period January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2015 reflects these changes and will replace the 2008-2012 plan previously prepared by Abitibi-Bowater for this area.  Planning Zone Five encompasses FMDs 10, 11, 12 and 13.

It is located in central Newfoundland and extends from Victoria Lake in the west to the Bay D’Espoir highway in the east and from Island Pond in the south to North and South Twin Lakes in the north.  Major towns located within the zone are Bishop’s Falls, Grand Falls-Windsor, Badger,

Millertown and Buchans.   Approximately 20,200 hectares with 2.45

million cubic metres of timber are scheduled to be harvested.

Harvesting activities will include pulpwood, sawlog, and fuelwood using chainsaws and mechanical harvesters.  Skidders may be used for some slope harvesting and chainsaws for domestic harvesting.  Approximately

193 kilometres of primary forest access roads will be constructed over the 5 year operating plan.

The undertaking was registered on January 4, 2011; public comments are due by February 11, 2011; and the minister’s decision is due by February 18, 2011.

Deadline for submissions: Feb 4, 2011

As part of its strategy for protecting wildlife species at risk, the Government of Canada proclaimed the Species at Risk Act (SARA) on June 5, 2003. Attached to the Act is Schedule 1, the list of the species that receive protection under SARA, also called the List of Wildlife Species at Risk. COSEWIC (the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) has recommended the addition of 18 terrestrial species to Schedule 1, and a change in risk status for seven terrestrial species already on the list.

Of the terrestrial species proposed for addition or risk status change on the legal list, two are known to occur in Newfoundland and Labrador:

Vole Ears (Lichen)

• Addition: Endangered

Bobolink (Bird)

• Addition: Threatened

For further information and a copy of the registration documents visit http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/document/default_e.cfm?documentID=2106.

We’re writing to let you know about an exciting new endeavour Green Teacher is launching next year. Starting in February, we will be hosting a series of one hour webinars (online seminars) on various environmental education topics. These webinars are offered free of charge to Green Teacher subscribers. The focus of these webinars will be on effective teaching strategies for various areas of environmental education, at different age/grade levels, both within and outside the classroom (for both formal and non-formal educators). Featuring guest experts, the webinars will be held on weekday evenings, starting at 7:30 p.m. EST from February to May and again in October-November.

We are seeking your suggestions—and those of any colleagues or acquaintances who may be interested—as to which webinar topics are of the greatest interest. To that end, we have created a short online survey, which takes about 5 minutes to complete. To get everyone thinking, the survey suggests a number of general topic areas, but anyone can suggest other topics, and indicate at which age/grade levels their favourite topic(s) should be addressed in a webinar.

The survey can be accessed at the following URL: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/76KDMXX

We thank you in advance for any input you may have. The deadline for completing the survey is January 20th. If you wish, you may enter your email address on the survey, and we will send you updated lists of topics and dates throughout the coming year.

For further info visit http://www.greenteacher.com or contact info@greenteacher.com.