establishing a herp society

[Drax]

hello all,
i would like to set up a local herp society here in Upstate South Carolina (Greenville area specicially). does anyone have any advice about how to start this project and how to keep it running after it starts? i was thinking about having once a month meetings at the local library or some other meeting hall. we do have a local zoo so i could possibly arrange with them to bring some animals in and do a presentation.

what do you guys do at your local herp meetings? how does the society affect the community as a whole?

if there's anyone from the Greenville/Spartanburg area of SC that wants to help with this endevor or just wants info whenever this project gets off the ground my email is Keshec@cs.com. thanks

kyle

(ps> i also posted this in the FAQ forum.)
[addsig]

pps or pss ..whatever comes next>>> I also deleted it from the FAQ forum after about the 4th complaint I got in Pm regarding the double posting of this on the forums here...copy/paste it seemed in both Just talk and the FAQ forums.

PLEEEEEEASEEEEE.... Do NOT double post on the forums at all. Admins and mods have posted PLENTY of threads/comments requesting that this NOT be done here for awhile even. TYIA
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[najaboy]

I'm in the process of starting a society here in MI, and I'll post some info either tomorrow or this weekend when I have some more time. For now, I'll just say it ain't cheap, and it's very time consuming.
[addsig]

Our herp society in NC meets twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring. They are all weekend meetings though.

Our society's big purpose is conservation of rare/endangered herps. And Ken's right, it is HUGELY time consuming and expensive to get rolling.
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[Ed_r]

CHS has general meetings once a month, and also a board meeting once a month. We have a monthly fund raiser. As naja mentioned is very costly. Our herp society does an aweful lot for the community. We help the DNR do herp surveys in local areas. A big one we have now is a big fund raiser for research on the Eastern Massasauga Rattle snake. Of course we try to assist placement of unwanted pets, escaped pets, and confiscated pets. We do Educational shows, provide grants for research and in turn get funded for research.
It's allot more than getting a group of herp lovers in one place.
Usually at our general meetings we have a guest speaker for the evening.
You may want to think twice before starting a society. Doesn't your area already have one in place?
Here is a link to the Chicago Herp Society so you can get an idea of all that we do.Chicago Herp Society page
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[Drax]

Sorry about the double post Lori! i haven't been on in a loooong while and guess i missed the messages about double posts. it won't happen again.

well crap. we don't have a herp society in the area and i realy don't have any money (poor college student and all that) so i doubt then my idea will go any where. basically, i just wanted someway to meet and greet fellow herpers in the area. i also wanted someway to setup a rescue/addoption project with someone. oh well, maybe in the future.
[addsig]

Drax.. All the herp associations had to start somewhere ya know. I am sure that all that some do like the one Ed is involved with did not open their membership with ALL that going on from day one. Why not try and start one with just a common bind like the love of herps and try to get it to grow from there is all.
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