The annual meeting of the Friends of the Cedarburg Bog saw the retirement of two board members, the re-election of three current members and the introduction and election of two new members. The meeting, preceded by a potluck cookout and bog hikes, was held Sunday Oct. 2 at the Field Station.

The new board members are:

·      Jennifer K. (Jeff) Rothstein, a member of the Ozaukee County Board of Supervisors and an environmental educator at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center. She serves as vice chair of the supervisors' Natural Resources Committee and also is a member of the county's Land Preservation Board.

·      John O’Donnell, a nearly lifelong birder and a self-described  "evolving naturalist" active with both the Bog Friends and the Riveredge Bird Club. He is a member of the Wisconsin Society of Ornithology, the Urban Ecology Center, the International Crane Foundation and the Sierra Club. John has been co-leading bird walks, owl prowls, and participating in bird migration census work at the Bog for the last three years. He has led  national and international backcountry and natural history tours for the Sierra Club for almost 20 years.

Re-elected to the board were Mary Holleback, adult programs coordinator at Riveredge Nature Center and chair of the Friends' education committee; Nicole Sidoff, Community Development Educator for UW Extension in Ozaukee County and Friends' events committee chair; and noted artist Tom Uttech, a founding board member and past president.

Retiring from the board after serving two three-year terms, including three years as its founding president, was Daniel C.  Kline, president and CEO of ParaTechnica, an IT management firm he founded in 2001. His retirement from the board follows that a year ago of founding treasurer Jack Isselman, president of the Newburg State Bank.

Also leaving the board was Joan Sommer, who has served as the board's secretary for the last two years. Joan, who joined the board in 2008, is head of access services for Marquette University's Raynor Memorial Libraries. She also is a member of the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust, the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin.

Grafton artist Hank Klapproth, another founding board member whose term also expires, retired from the board earlier this year.

When the reconstituted board meets at the Field Station on Oct. 13, it is expected to re-elect as its president Carl Schwartz, a member of the board since 2007 who took over as president a year ago. Carl is coordinator of  Bird City Wisconsin, vice president of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and a member of the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust.

Also planning to serve a second term is treasurer William Taylor. Bill retired from UWM's School of Business as a professor emeritus but continues his consulting practice and textbook writing. He has served as president of both the Riveredge Nature Center and the Ozaukee-Washington Land Trust.

Kate Redmond, who returned to the executive committee as vice president a year ago after serving as secretary for the Friends' first four years, plans a shift back to secretary.  Kate (aka The Bug Lady) also edits the Friends' quarterly newsletter, The BogHaunter, and writes a weekly columns called Bug o’ the Week. The Ozaukee Washington Land Trust recently awarded Kate its annual Outreach Award, and the Wisconsin Wetlands Association last year named her a Wetland Hero.

Gail Epping Overholt rounds out the proposed slate, returning to the executive committee as vice president after previously serving as president from 2009 to 2010. Gail has been with the UW-Extension as a Natural Resources Educator in southeastern Wisconsin since 2006.  She previously was director of education at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center and at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison.

Gail coordinated the Wisconsin Ephemeral Pond Project, a Citizen-Based Monitoring program, organizing and leading the recruitment and training of over 200 citizen volunteers and more than a dozen local partners, including the Bog Friends, over six counties in southeastern Wisconsin.