Chippewa Nature Center Inc.

“The organization has members of various levels, depending on contribution. All members have rights to vote on board members.”

“Board members are elected at the annual meeting by votes from cnc members. Nominations are named by november of the preceding year by the board nominating committee. The election is held at the annual meeting. If no nominations are made other than the slate announced by the nominating committee, then those nominated are elected with one ballot from the board secretary - also at the annual meeting.”

“The form 990 was reviewed by senior management of cnc prior to its approval for filing.”

“Conflict of interest policy covers members of the chippewa nature center (cnc) board of directors, any of its committees, and staff members. Covered persons shall readily disclose to cnc any personal interest which he or she may have in any matter pending before cnc and shall refrain from participation in any decision on such matter. Any member of the cnc board or staff, who is an officer, board member, or employee of an agency or other entity doing business with cnc, shall identify his or her affiliation with such agency or entity. Covered persons in connection with any policy committee or board action specifically directed to that agency or entity, shall not participate in the decision affecting that agency or entity, and the decision must be made and/or ratified by the full board without the vote of the affected member.”

“The executive committee develops a budget containing the executive director's salary which is approved by the board of directors. Competitive salary levels are compared at local, state, and national levels for compensation for similarly qualified persons in functionally comparable positions at similarly situated organizations. The approval is documented in the executive committee meeting minutes.”

“Any requests for this information are directed to the executive director, who provides the documents as requested if legally mandated or constructively appropriate.”

“The chippewa nature center is a non-profit organization whose mission is to facilitate the enjoyment and understanding of our natural, historical and archaeological resources as relevant to the saginaw valley, to promote environmental awareness and to foster responsible stewardship.”

“Department of programs: as we entered 2020, we were optimistic about our opportunity to build powerful connections between people and nature. We had just experienced a record year of attendance and we expected to see continued growth in 2020. The covid-19 pandemic began having a significant impact on programs in early march and by mid-march, the visitor center closed and all in-person programming stopped. As our community and the world responded to this emergency, we learned new ways of building connections. Our most significant exhibit has always been our property and trails. That did not change; in fact, many more people in our community discovered the power and beauty of the natural world at chippewa nature center. Seeking solace, managing stress and looking for a change in scenery brought record numbers of people to our trails. In addition, the program and marketing departments partnered to produce a wide variety of self-guided resources including lesson plans for virtual students, scavenger hunts for adults and children, an online bio blitz, natural history videos and a series of earth week activities and videos. A conscious effort was made to increase the interpretive content of our social media platforms, including utilizing cnc's instagram account. With the start of in-person programming in july, the community's appetite for programming was clear with excellent turnout for these outdoor, socially distanced opportunities. While 2020 was not the year we were expecting, it demonstrated the importance of nature and providing opportunities for connection. In previous years, we have counted attendance as the number of people who walk through the doors of the visitor center. We have always known this is only a proportion of the people visiting the nature center, as it omits those visitors who do not come indoors. This year, the visitor center closed to the public from march 14 through july 5, 2020 due to precautions taken to reduce the spread of covid-19. Despite this extended closure and limitations on visitor center capacity once it was re-opened, we welcomed 12,095 visitors through the doors in 2020. This is slightly less than half the number we welcomed in 2019, but what this number does not reflect are the thousands upon thousands of people who walked the trails this year. A daily count of vehicles in parking lots during the months of march and april along with weekends in june, july and august yielded a vehicle count of over 9,000. While we don't have a definitive number for trail use, it is clear that it has been significantly greater this year than at any time in our history. This year, we welcomed 3,899 people to public programs. Prior to march, we were able to host the central michigan seed swap (640 attendees), two live birds of prey programs (154 and 104 attendees), two snakes alive programs (102 and 64 attendees) and the groundhog's day party (134 attendees). When we were able to re-start in-person programming in july, most programs were converted to pre-registered free programs (rather than drop-in programs) in order to limit attendance and collect contact information for attendees. Group sizes were limited to 25 or fewer in most cases. Registrants were asked to wear masks, practice distancing with those outside their household and refrain from attending if they felt ill. Most participants were more than willing to take these precautions and our in- person programs were frequently filled, even when the temperatures began to dip in november and december. We are so thankful our programs and time in nature are highly valued by our community. The nature of the covid-19 virus prevented large group gatherings. Maple syrup day, fall harvest festival, nature at night and the nature art show and sale were all cancelled due to the pandemic. The one bright spot was the native plant sale, which we were able to host online with curbside pickup. Staff, members and visitors were excited to share their love of gardening and nat”

“Land and facilities: the arbury trail was widened and repaved, making it a great universally accessible 1/4 mile loop next to the visitor center. After significant heaving of the old bridge, demolition of the old bridge and pilings for the new bridge were completed during the fall. Construction of the rest of the bridge has been delayed, but should be coming soon. Both the visitor center and nature preschool received new roofs in 2020. The shingles on the preschool building were replaced with a steel roof. Hail from a march storm caused leaking in the visitor center and so its roof was also replaced. Arboretum highlights for the year included cleanup after the 500-year flood, planting and caging 51 new trees and shrubs, planting 0.5 acres of native grass and wildflowers and getting five new donor trees. Currently, 107 species of trees and shrubs are represented in the arboretum and 415 plants have been labeled.”

“Volunteers and outreach: traditionally this department is quite active, participating annually in over 30 events throughout the great lakes bay region; however, 2020 was quite different. We participated in a total of seven regional events: kids day at the mall in january, three events in february (outdoor expo/wild game dinner in midland, a family winter fest in bay city and little footprints children's festival in saginaw) and the home and garden show the first weekend in march, before events were cancelled due to the pandemic. In august, riverdays moved to a virtual event. We supplied videos of the rivers and offered a coloring sheet and scavenger hunt, as well as an outdoor, on-site touchfree display to do with the scavenger hunt. The last event of the year was the midland center for the arts halloween bash, which was held outside with a touchless display on bats and owls with a take-home craft. We wish to thank all our volunteers for their patience and understanding as we navigate the challenges related to covid-19. Unfortunately, in 2020, the majority of cnc's team of dedicated volunteers were unable to volunteer due to the cancellation of special events, outreach events, nature day camp and corporate group work days. While a significant number of volunteer opportunities were cancelled in 2020, we were able to offer some prior to the march covid-19 restrictions. Then following strict protocols established by cnc using appropriate safety guidelines, we were able to have a very limited number of volunteers help on homestead sundays, as well as a few outside projects for land and facilities volunteers. New at cnc for 2020 was the opportunity to incorporate "virtual volunteer hours" from the oxbow archeologists and the nature center's board of directors and committees, as they continued to hold meetings through the use of zoom”