A question??  I want to determine what interest you and your club may have in starting an association of field trip leaders within the Southeastern Federation of Mineralogical Societies.  The state of Washington has one which it calls the "Washington State Mineral Council"  They essentially meet and decide on a collective field trip schedule for a year in advance.  I envision having mineral or fossil collecting trips to locations in the southeast where a local host club normally goes in large numbers.  This means a collecting site (fee or free) that can handle a crowd and has adequate parking.  I think, that within the SE Federation, we can get enough clubs to participate where no one club would be over burdened in conducting field trips.  If each member club to this field trip association would pledge to host only one mineral or fossil trip per Council year, we could not only give our members local collecting opportunities but great trips to collect in other states in the southeast.  This would be great for clubs located in areas that are either too hot or cold (snow) during certain times of the year to go on field trips.

This "Southeast Coalition" or "Dixie Mineral Council" could be organized over the Internet.  I believe we have enough SE Federation clubs presently on the "Net" to give us a good start to organize and coordinate the council's business.  I have sent "snail mail" to other societies in the SE Federation who have at least 50 members (48 clubs) with a request for their consideration of this new field trip association plan and a request for a return contact e-mail address for their society.  This means that, even though very few societies presently have a web presence on the Internet, everyone can still join the "Coalition" and participate in council mineral or fossil field trips through e-mail! 

If we could pull this off, it would be a great incentive to increasing our local membership and even to get some of our old members reactivated again.  Think for a moment about the field trip possibilities opened up to your members if just 25% of the 85 mineral societies within the SE Federation joined this new coalition.  Each month, everyone who joined would have a choice to go on your local club trip(if you have one scheduled) or on one of the Coalition mineral or fossil trips somewhere within the 10 state southeast region! Under this situation, your club would only be required to host a trip about every two years! (21 clubs = 1 hosted trip per 21 months)

WOW...    What a concept...    All done with E-mail... 

Please discuss this proposal with your executive board and then e-mail me back with your comments on how you think we can accomplish this goal, what drawbacks we'll face, or why you think we can't make it work.
Also, reply as to whether your club would be interested in joining in such a Field Trip Leader Coalition for the purpose of hosting and sharing a mineral or fossil field trip.

 Whether you decide to join or not, please choose someone in your society to act as your Internet contact person.  Either have them e-mail me with your society's comments or return your contact e-mail address and comments by mail.

Thanks for your consideration. 

Jim Flora 
POB 440232
Kennesaw, GA  30144
The Georgia Mineral Society, Field Trip Chair 
jimflora@mindspring.com