THE ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED CONSERVATIONISTS
Meeting of November 5, 2025, held at Imperial Garden
ARC President Laurel Steffes called the meeting to order at 1:10 pm.
51 members and guests were in attendance. The cost of the meal was $20 for 5 Asian dishes served family style, rice, egg rolls, tea and fortune cookies.
A moment of silence was observed for friends and family who have passed, and for essential workers, federal employees and for our troops who are serving in harm’s way.
Financial Report:
Dick Steffes reports that there is $1,180 in our account.
New Members and Guests:
Attending their first meeting:
Ann Scott was introduced by Bob Schaefer and John Hagman. She formerly worked in Facilities and Lands and retired in January 2025.
Glenn Smeaton was introduced by Bob Schaefer. His employment with DNR involved training wastewater treatment operators, and later with VTAE working in wastewater treatment plants. He retired 10 years ago.
Ken Koscik introduced by Joe Brusca worked for Dane County Dept. of Public Works for many years. He is also well known for his canoe building skills.
Laurel welcomed all of the guests and remarked that it wasn’t necessary to have worked for or retired from DNR to join as we are a group of conservationists.
“Frank-n-Miller Report:”
Bob Schaefer said despite the occasional grim stock markets reports, both Core and Variable Funds are meeting expectations. The latest figures as of September 30 are Core +11.91% and Variable +18.20. Both are above the Benchmarks.
Old Business:
Linda Netzer has learned that Imperial Garden may close in the next year to make way for a developer to build an apartment unit on the site. This has always been a popular venue for meetings and we are planning to schedule this location in 2026, but it may not be on the rotation after that.
New Business:
The ARC Holiday Party is set for December 3 at Maple Tree in McFarland. Cost of the meal is $25. Rick Wojciak will be sending sign-up information to everyone soon. Everyone is welcome, member or not!
Sheree VandeBrink will again organize the raffle of donated items. All proceeds go to Second Harvest Food Bank. Our 2024 raffle resulted in a $1,000 donation, and Sheree is hoping we can raise even more money this year given the need is great. She encouraged members to bring items or cash so we can meet or exceed last year’s net.
Illnesses:
Tom Thoresen was contacted by George Meyer to let him know that he is under hospice care, and a Caring Bridge website is being created. George was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.
John Hagman said that Bruce Braun is also dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
Our thoughts are with them and their families.
Trips:
Rick Wojciak and Mary Jean Huston just returned from 3 weeks in Greece where they ferried to a number of islands and then bike toured once there.
Meeting adjourned at 1:27 pm.
Presentation:
Laurel Steffes introduced our speaker, Marie Gilbertson. Dr. Gilbertson is a scientist with UW-Madison, Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit who has been working with other agencies on CWD. She gave an interesting talk accompanied by photos and graphs of how deer movement affects CWD and how CWD affects deer movement. In a study area west of Madison, deer were captured, tested for CWD and collared to track their range. She also discussed what is being learned on how prions are shed into the environment, how long the incubation period might be and what ultimately causes death in infected deer.
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