Those Present: Tom Anderson, Claude Eans, Steve Thrasher, Vince Perrotta, Jim Arnold, Heather Montgomery, Keith Schoonover, Tyson Rose, Andy Driscoll, Mike Kay

1. call to order. Keith Called the meeting to order and members introduced themselves to Andy Driscoll. Andy is a Forester working for Montgomery County Government for various forestry, reforestation and arboricultural activities.

2. Treasurer’s Report: Tom mentioned that he has been receiving checks from Heather dedicated for Neighborhood Green.

3. Logging Site Exams: Mike said that he received two plans and expects to get one more. Mike and Vince made plans to look at the sites next week on Wednesday, October 23. Vince will meet Mike at Gambrill at 8:00 am.

4. Tree Farm Workshop: Claude, Steve, and Vince attended the workshop at the Dan Hedderick property in Allegany County last Saturday. Despite the wet conditions the rain held off for most of the day. Numerous topics were covered during this event including responsible tree planting around power lines, tree pruning around power lines, the CREP program, old field habitats and the yellow winged warbler, sediment ponds, hunting leases, a comparative approach to conducting invasive species control before and after a thinning takes place, and a demonstration of small scale logging techniques. Nearly 70 people were present for this program and the lunch was really good. There were some give a ways including a few bluebird and wood duck houses. Everybody thought the program was very interesting including Vince who said he attended the program in Southern Maryland and although it was different it was very informative as well. The Western Region Tree Farm field day was 1 of 4 programs conducted throughout the state in each region. Claude mentioned that the Tree Farm committee was very satisfied with the results and will probably schedule events for next year although they probably won’t do one in each region since this was a very big undertaking.

5. Boy Scout Program: Everybody who participated said they really enjoyed the program and that the Scouts were great. Different members brought copies of the News Post articles to display. Between the Field Day article, Claude’s Tree Farmer of the Year award, and the two Nature Notes articles the Forestry Board was prominently displayed in the Sunday, October 6 edition. Claude mentioned that Melissa Udbinac deserves a lot of the credit for organizing this event and Vince and the other Board members thanked Claude for all he did to make this program happen. There is a pretty good chance that we will be conducting another field day either next year or the year after.

6. Fall Statewide Meeting: This meeting is scheduled for Saturday, November 2, 2013. Mike asked members if they planned on attending and Claude and Tom indicated that they would attend as does Mike. Mike will contact Ginny to see if she wants to go and provide Becky Wilson a head count. We will meet at the Route 75 Park and Ride at 7:30 am on Saturday, November 2, and car pool down.

7. Neighborhood Green: Heather mentioned that all of the plans have been submitted and she mailed out notices to participants and has received three checks for folks wishing to participate in the planting. Heather mentioned that she was given permission to open up enrollment to all the individuals who participated in the training no matter what part of the county they resided in. Heather thinks that this program is gaining momentum and she has already received interest in a possible 2014 workshop.

8. Nature Notes: We have been able to build a bit of a backlog of new and reworked articles that appeared 3 to 4 years ago.

9. Web Site: We had a long discussion about how to trim down the website and following this discussion Tom made the following motion: “Allow Tyson to delete everything over 2 years old except for articles that are archived (Nature Notes) and those that have long lasting appeal such as History of the Forestry Boards, Developing a Stewardship Plan for your property etc. Heather seconded the motion and it was passed by those present.

10. Heating with Wood Program: After some discussion it was decided to allow Claude to attend the Statewide Program at the end of the month then decide if the board would sponsor a similar program in Frederick County during the fall of 2014.

11. Other Business: Leaf Decomposition and Buffers – Steve relayed a question he received regarding leaf fall in buffer plantings. The question was: “Does the nitrogen that is deposited in streams as a result of leaf decomposition in buffers negate the nitrogen that trees take up?” Most thought that it did and other added benefits such as cooling the water, habitat, and holding down soil are other benefits. Perhaps this would make a good Nature Notes column?