Those present: Keith Schoonover, Jim Arnold, Tom Anderson, Lynne Marquess, Mike Kay

1. Call to order: Keith called the meeting to order and the February Minutes were approved as written.

2. Treasurer’s report: Lynne presented Tom with a check for $510 to be used for a MUCFC grant. We received word from Frederick County that our preliminary funding will be $649 for 2011. Given the poor economic conditions the board is very grateful for any funding that they will receive. Tom mentioned that we spent $236.27 on the two Winter Tree ID programs we sponsored this year and we have invested $273.53 in the 2 display cases that will be erected on both sides of the tree id trail.

3. Logging Site Exams: Mike reports that no plans were submitted this month.

4. NRCC: Lynne reports that she has distributed brochures to all Frederick County high schools both public and private, the technical school, 3 libraries, and she has contacted the 3 Vo-Ag instructors and provided them with brochures as well. Lynne has also drafted notices that she has submitted to the Frederick News Post which has not yet run in the paper. Lynne also submitted notices to the various web sites that cover Frederick County activities. So far there have been no applications submitted from Frederick County. Lynne also mentioned that as per the State Association meeting we have learned that there is no time limit for students so recruitment will continue until 48 attendees have been identified and individual counties are not limited to 2 students per county.

5. Statewide Meeting: Lynne took minutes for the Association that day. The following report came from Lynne and Jim.

   • Mike presented a brief tribute to Larry and asked that members send their remembrances of Larry for posting on the website.

   • Steve Koehn provided a synopsis of the state of the Forest Service and Legislation that could potentially have an impact.

   • Program Open Space is at risk of being cancelled.

   • There are some changes to the Forest Conservation Law being discussed.

   • Forestry Board Members should hold off submitting their Ethics Forms until they receive some guidance from the Forest Service.

   • The Association Website is up and running and those wishing to contribute can make a donation through Pay Pal.

   • Scott Smith of the Wildlife and Natural Heritage Service was on hand to talk a bit about reptiles and amphibians (Herps) and explain the Survey that Maryland is undertaking to figure out what species are out there and how many are present.

   • Bob Tatman of MDA, Forest Pest Management was on hand to detail the 2011 threats to the forest and talk about their Hemlock Wholly Adelgid suppression program.

   • Tim Culbreth, MD Forest Service gave a presentation on 2011 being the International Year of the Forest and some of the activities that are planned to recognize this event.

   • The Big Tree Program was able to measure nearly 200 trees during 2010.

   • MD is hosting the National State Foresters meeting in Baltimore and Steve suggested that if the Boards wish to get involved they can donate some local crafts/non-perishable produce for a silent auction being held at the meeting.

   • There was a discussion and suggestions made to rewrite the Bi-Laws of the Association. A committee was put together to affect this rewrite and a draft copy will be distributed at least 30 days before the fall meeting so that the new bi-laws can be approved at this meeting.

   • A new book was recently published that presents a historical account of how Forest Conservation became established in MD called: “America’s Conservation Impulse, a Century of Saving Forest’s in the Old Line State “the author is Geoffrey Buckley and this book should be available on Amazon.Com.

   • The Association is looking for a representative from the Western Region.

6. Winter Tree ID: Everybody thought that the hikes went well but Lynne pointed out that no mention of the Forestry Board was made in the article that ran in the News Post. Tom sent a nice thank you letter to Adam White and the other MCC Crew members for their work in making the display cases and leading the hike.

7. Western Regional Meeting: Members discussed the possibility of joining the other western counties in a meeting sometime during 2011.

8. Outreach: Jim lead a discussion on various activities the Board could conduct to increase our awareness in the community. Some ideas discussed were developing a Power Point and searching out speaking opportunities, developing a informational sheet on the Forestry Board, Continuing with our I&E Actives such as Neighborhood Green and Forestry Lectures, etc. Mike mentioned that the Frederick News Post is developing a spotlight section for their Environmental Section and he thinks that an issue devoted to various conservation organizations such as the Forestry Board would be a good idea.

9. Forestry Lecture Series: We discussed this program somewhat but it was getting late so we decided to table discussion until the April meeting but we thought a good homework assignment would be for members to think about the programs we would offer so we can start the process of developing an agenda.

10. Other Business: Mike mentioned that the term of membership has expired for all members except Tyson. Mike had the new membership renewal forms handy and Tom, Keith, Lynne, and Jim, took one. Mike will mail copies of these forms to the remaining members.