2009 Annual Report - American Association of Petroleum Geologists

elationships among it members by
sharing ideas and information.
The strengths of our Section are that
we are small in numbers and mostly
independents from small companies
who are willing to work together.
Opportunities are formed by networking
and sharing ideas so we don’t have to
become experts in everything. The
relative low costs of drilling and completing
allows small independents with limited
capital the opportunity to operate their
own companies.
The disadvantages of our Section is
that most of our members are in
retirement or entering the retirement
age, they work for themselves with very
little time to get involved in Sectional
activities and are working in a mature
area and exploring for smaller reservoirs.
Goals
We plan to continue to have a section
meeting every other year including cities
other than Tulsa, Oklahoma City and
Wichita. We would like to have off-year
field trips or a get together for informal
meetings other than at AAPG annual
convention. Other goals include:
• Assist Jim McGhay on the development
of digital libraries.
• Develop interlinks between the
Mid-Continent Section Libraries both
paper and e-mail.
• Continue our matching scholarship
grants from the Section to our local
societies who are giving scholarship
to students working on geology or
related degrees.
• Promote Teacher Training and the
Teacher of the Year award.
• Award college students scholarships
to attend Mid-Continent Section AAPG
convention.
Action
Mid-Continent Section Meeting will be
held in Wichita in 2007 with Ernie
Morrison as general chair. Jim McGhay
continues organizing and meeting with
AAPG Libraries to work on developing
more Internet libraries and working with
the three Societies in the Section, which
has Internet libraries.
Mid-Continent Section is giving out
several matching scholarships each year
to its member Societies. Individual
Societies continue to have teacher
workshops or field trips either at our
Mid-Continent conventions or as
stand-alone workshops. Student
Scholarships and assistance are given
to students attending our convention.
Oklahoma Geological Society has
developed a Teacher Research room
1744 Annual Report
with information and specimens for
classrooms. Kansas Geological Society
has yearly workshops for teacher
throughout the state.
Finance
The Mid-Continent Section receives
35% of the profit from its convention
put on by the Societies. This money is
used for scholarships and grants to give
to the Section’s Societies on a matching
for research grants or scholarships.
Alan DeGood, President
Pacific Section
This is a brief overview of items of
special interest that occurred during the
past fiscal year in the Pacific Section AAPG.
The treasurer’s position was modified
whereby some duties were handed to
outside accounting personnel. New
accounting software was purchased to
facilitate the work and smooth transitions
to incoming treasurers. The position now
has more oversight and less day-to-day
duties, which should make the job more
reasonable. A new editor-in-chief
position was created. Both our
newsletter and new Web site are under
this elected position.
The Pacific Section hosted the 2007
AAPG Annual Convention, which
consumed the section during the
past year. We have agreements in
place for next year’s Section Meeting
in Bakersfield, California.
Insurance has been a growing and
large issue for this Section, in the past
we have provided insurance for our
affiliated Societies. This model no longer
works and graciously AAPG stepped in
to insure the PSAAPG. Although this
helps immediate convention needs, our
affiliated societies are not covered by the
new agreement.
The ongoing interaction with other
section presidents and AAPG through
Carol McGowen has been very useful
to the PSAAPG. The sharing of best
practices and understanding issues
important to other portions of the
organization has been beneficial.
Mike Wracher, President
Rocky Mountain Section
The Rocky Mountain Section of the
American Association of Petroleum
Geologists represents the more than
3,000 AAPG members residing in the
states of Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota,
Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and
Wyoming. The Section has 11 affiliated
geologic societies throughout the Rocky
Mountain region. Current Section officers
are: Steve Schamel, president; John
Robinson, president-elect; Kim Parsons,
secretary/treasurer; and Tom Ann Casey,
secretary/treasurer-elect.
Annual Section Meetings
The Rocky Mountain Section is chartered
to hold annual technical meetings
focused on the oil and gas developments
in the Rocky Mountain and Williston
basins. These conventions are organized
and hosted by one or several of the
11 affiliated societies. The venue for the
meeting moves around the region to
draw attention to the exciting new
developments in different Rocky
Mountain basins and to offer a broad
array of field trip opportunities. The 2006
RMS convention, themed Undaunted
Exploration of the Rockies and hosted by
the Montana Geological Society, was
held June 10–13 in Billings, Montana.
The 2007 56 th Annual Rocky Mountain
Rendezvous was held at Snowbird, Utah,
near Salt Lake City, on October 7–9.
The schedule for future annual
conventions of the Rocky Mountain
Section is as follows:
2008: Denver July 9–11 in the
Colorado Convention Center co-hosted
by RMAG and COGA; Donna Anderson is
the general chair.
2009: Denver June 7–10; RMS is
co-hosting the AAPG Annual Convention
in the Colorado Convention Center;
Randy Ray is the general chair.
2010: Durango, Colo. in early
June 13–15 at Fort Lewis College hosted
by the Four Corners Geological Society;
James Fassett and Kimberlee Gerhardt
are the general co-chairs.
2011: Casper, Wyo. June 25–29 hosted
by the Wyoming Geological Association.
Web Site
Over the past half-year, Section officer
Tom Ann Casey has worked with an
outside consultant, Doug Briggs, to
develop a Web site for the Section. The
result of their efforts, www.rms-aapg.org,
is both informative and attractive.
The site is intended to update Section
members and others on current
petroleum activities in the Rocky
Mountain region and serve as a
forum for exchange of information.
Additionally, there is a light-hearted
section where members and affiliated
societies can post photographs of
recent events, outcrops, and glorious
Rocky Mountain scenery.