Those present: Ginny Brace, Steve Thrasher, Heather Montgomery, Tom Anderson, Claude Eans, Jim Arnold, Keith Schoonover, Vince Perrotta, Tyson Rose, Mike Kay

1. Call to order: Keith called the meeting to order and November’s minutes were approved as written.

2. Treasurer’s Report: Tom indicated that he received $90 from Heather for Neighborhood Green bringing the total deposited into the Treasury for Neighborhood Green at about $2,000. Heather thanked the board for their input into the report that she submitted to Frederick County Manager’s Office. After reviewing the report the county indicated that they will be drafting a Memorandum of Understanding with the Board which enables them to fund board activities. Board members thanked Heather for her hard work in bringing about this renewed source of funding.

3. Membership: Mike indicated that he received Vince’s application for Board membership and that Mike will sign the application and send it along the chain of command.

4. Logging sire exams: Mike stated that no plans had arrived before the meeting.

5. Baltimore County Guidelines for planting projects: Heather led a discussion about the merits of using larger growing stock at a wider spacing vs. using seedlings at a closer spacing. The result of these discussions was that there were some pros and cons for each method; and, the dynamics of the particular planting site or planting project would be the determining factor. Heather asked members to submit additional comments if they wished to do so.

6. Neighborhood Green: Heather reports that all checks have been received and we will be planting 14.5 acres on 15 landholdings this spring. Heather is formulating a renewed outreach program that will target landholdings greater than 10 acres in size along with smaller lots. Heather is also in the process of finalizing the agenda for a ½ day training program for Neighborhood Green to be held in May, 2013.

7. Education: Ginny and Jim distributed a handout that had the results of our ranking of potential programs exercise that we did last month. (Mike had 2 of these stapled together which he did not initially notice. Thinking we were one short Ginny went to the next room to make another copy. Now the truth comes out!) After much discussion the Board came up with a number of potential projects for 2013. One project involved the board developing a program for Scouts to receive their “Forestry” merit badge. Perhaps we can provide this program once a year so that interested scouts can attend and receive this certification. Heather, Claude, and Tom volunteered to look into this further. Another idea that was floating around was to conduct one day training – tree planting – clean up at Waterford Park for Scouts or another group. A third idea was for the Board to become active in the Envirothon program. Ginny asked members to think about these ideas and others and we will resume this discussion at the January meeting.

8. Nature Notes: Ginny said that she is taking a Naturalist Training at Catoctin Creek Park and during a lecture; one of the instructors cited this column as being very informative. Ginny also ran into George Lewis who thanked her for working to have the included on the byline of the article.

9. Website: Tyson mentioned that it is up to date. Tyson asked members to send articles especially if they are too large for being included in the Nature Notes column.

10. Other Business: Tom mentioned that he has been attending sustainability meetings and he noticed that new members have more of an environmental orientation compared to previous members.

    • Ginny lead a brief discussion about the board sponsoring a native plant sale next spring possibly in conjunction with Master Gardner’s.

Happy Holidays!