Frederick County

Forest Conservancy District Board

June 11, 2012 Meeting Minutes

Those present: Keith Schoonover, Claude Eans. Lynne Marquess, Steve Thrasher, Tom Anderson, Tyson Rose, Mike Kay

NRCC Interviews: Keith, Claude, Lynne, and Mike met to interview two prospective NRCC attendees ((Daniel and Jonathan Klein). Both gentlemen had very impressive résumé’s and did well in the interviews.

  1. Call to order: Keith called the meeting to order and the final version of May’s Minutes was approved as written.

  2. Treasurer’s Report: Tom outlined the following activities in the treasury: Purchase of $18.00 in stamps. Received $500 donations from the Darrell McCartney family members.

  3. Timber Harvest Reviews: Mike received 2 plans prior to the meeting. Mike mentioned that due to his busy schedule he suggested that he visit the sites as time allows and let board members know if there are any problems that might require a second look by the membership. The board gave Mike permission to do this.

  4. Neighborhood Green: Mike mentioned that following the workshop many of the participants requested site visits by Forestry personnel; and, Mike was in the process of meeting with 13 landowners. Claude mentioned that he would like to set up a meeting with Mike to look at the herbicide treatment in his pine stand and talk about other reforestation projects. Mike will set this up with Claude once his schedule clears up a bit. Mike also relayed some of the topics of discussion at a recent meeting of Neighborhood Green administrators at Frederick Coffee Company. We talked about site visits, and how we would develop site plans and funding requests. Some discussion revolved around the role of the Forestry Board in this implementation phase of the program. One of the ideas brought forward was using the Board’s Treasury to distribute cost share funds to participants. Mike mentioned that Heather had a clearer idea on how this might work and she would probably bring this up for discussion at a later meeting.

  5. Big Tree Program: Lynne mentioned that she had nothing new to report.

  6. Forestry Lecture Program: Claude reported that he enjoyed overseeing the June program on local conservation organizations and he thought all of the speakers did a fine job and stayed on schedule. Members thought that we should investigate other avenues of publicizing these programs to help insure that a larger audience shows up. Mike said that he is trying to line up a few more presenters for the Wood in Art program that is scheduled for July. At present we have Keith Wyvell wood in sculpture.

  7. NRCC: We discussed the 3 applicants and thought all three deserved a trip to camp. After some discussion a motion was made to pay $400 for all three students $1,200 total and have the families contribute the remaining $100 activity fee. This motion was seconded and passed by all those present. Lynne will contact all three students and make sure that Aaron Norris has a second written recommendation. (Aaron produced this recommendation.) Tom wrote a check for $1,200 and Mike mailed the check to the Forestry Board Foundation. Lynne mentioned that we have 37 applicants so far and can take a total of 42 so we are closing in on maximum capacity. Lynne also mentioned that 35 is the financial break even point for the program.

  8. Nature Notes: Michelle wrote the most recent article on native azaleas that appeared in the paper. We have a small backlog of articles but we sure could use more.

  9. Web Site: Tyson asked if a member could submit an article of the June lecture for the web site; and, Claude indicated that he would do so. Tyson circulated the Web site metrics for the last month.

  10. Other business: Mike mentioned that Steve submitted his application for membership and Steve received a round of applause. Mike and Keith signed the application and Mike mailed it to Cumberland for the Regional Forester’s signature.