What's IPAW been up to?

People attending the March 2001 Plants Out Of Place conference in Eau Claire, Wisconsin decided to create the Invasive Plant Association of Wisconsin (IPAW) and appointed an initial board of directors charged with getting the organization started. Since March the volunteer IPAW board and members of IPAW have accomplished several of the organizational tasks required to ready IPAW for the fight against invasives.

· IPAW has been incorporated in the State of Wisconsin, has a Mission Statement, Articles of Incorporation and a set of Bylaws that define membership and how the Board of Directors will be elected.

· IPAW applied for and received 50l(c)(3) Non-profit status from the IRS, making memberships and donations to IPAW tax deductible.

· IPAW has a web site with information on the organization, information on invasive plants, and links to other sites with invasive plant information: ipaw.org.

· The board has created a committee structure for IPAW (described in this newsletter). These are the working committees charged with accomplishing the main goals of the organization.

· IPAW has created and distributed a brochure describing the organization, and inviting membership.

· IPAW has assembled a display concerning invasive plants and the organization, and has presented the display at several meetings and conferences concerned with aspects of the natural resources of Wisconsin.

· The IPAW Science Committee has drafted a set of working definitions for how IPAW will define Invasive Plants, Weeds, Potentially Invasive Plants, and Sometimes Invasive Natives.

· The IPAW Science Committee is cooperating with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission to conduct a survey of invasive plants experts to define and rank a list of invasive plants of Wisconsin.

· IPAW is working with the Governor's Task Force on Invasive Species to provide information and direction with regard to invasive terrestrial species and the proposed weed law.