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

We met at Ginny’s House for our December meeting. We met in the Living Room for this meeting; however several members sneaked down to check out the train set. Thanks Ginny, and Jana for the cake and cookies!

1. Call to Order: Vince called the meeting to order. (Vince presided over about 31% of the meeting.)

2. Membership: Vince and the Board welcomed Andy as the newest Board member. Welcome aboard Andy! We also introduced ourselves to our guest David Hunter. Dave is the Director of Catoctin Quaker Camp and he took Mike up on an invitation to attend a meeting.

3. Treasurer’s Report: Tom indicated that we received $.95 in interest. Heather mentioned that she heard about a match funding grant administered by the Forestry Board Foundation for the purpose of funding educational pursuits. Heather asked Mike about this and Mike thinks that this may be referred to as the Mel Grant in honor of Mel Noland. Heather said that the Board should find out more about this grant opportunity and utilize the funding to make our educational dollars stretch.

4. Logging Site exams: Mike received one plan from a landowner on Mar-lu-Ridge. Mike and Steve will visit this property next week.

5. Office of Sustainability: Heather mentioned that the newly elected County Executive Jan Gardner indicated that she is going to make sustainability a priority in her administration. Heather also mentioned that her colleague Jeff Feaga is developing an expanded Neighborhood Green program which will take in a larger part of the county. Heather also suggested that Vince talk to Gary Allen for more guidance on how to utilize the I-pad to docume nt work completed through the Healthy Forests Healthy water program. Finally, given Heather’s feedback a portion of the draft has bee deleted and Heather’s comments are as follows:

   • Hi Mike, I don’t think I explained the credits well- that section in the minutes needs to be revised: Frederick County’s NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) MS4 (Multiple Separate Storm Sewer System) permit in its current tentative determination phase requires Frederick County to manage storm water to ultimately prevent, to the greatest extent possible, pollution from entering our local waterways. One of the requirements of the permit is to treat 20% of Frederick County’s untreated impervious area through the implementation of storm water best management practices, including storm water retrofits, tree planting, stream restoration, and more. The implementation of each best management practice can be considered a way to get “credit” towards our restoration goal of treating impervious area. The crediting can be calculated based on the following document: http://www.mde.state.md.us/programs/Water/StormwaterManagementProgram/Documents/NPDES%20MS4%20Guidance%20August%2018%202014.pdf. If you want to peruse through it, you can understand why it is difficult to explain in layman’s terms.

   • Ginny, I do not see a warm season grass (WSG) BMP identified in the tables on pages 36-37 except grass swales (which are different than WSG buffers I believe).

   • Sorry for the poor explanation at yesterday’s meeting, to date I have tried to stay out of the complicated modeling and accounting and stick to the implementation of the practices themselves. I am not as well versed as my supervisor in the permit language and accounting mechanisms, but it appears inevitable that I will soon have to become more familiar with it in order to explain it to others.

6. Nature Notes: Ginny indicated that we are in pretty good shape but she would like to see more articles about birds, particularly the Bald Eagle. Ginny mentioned that she might go to a bird club meeting and see if she can find some willing contributors. Dave mentioned that there should be an eagle expert at the Fish and Wildlife office in Shepardstown that we can approach for an article. Claude mentioned that he knows Phil Pannill who works as the Resource Manager at this facility. Ginny indicated that she knows and has worked with Phil in the past. Claude mentioned that he can forward Phil’s contact information to Ginny in case Ginny would like to ask him if he can recommend a resident eagle expert to help draft an article.

7. Web Site: Tyson said that the site is up to date and Tyson asked that we send him some scenic photos for the site.

8. Other Business:

   • Uniforms: Heather mentioned that we can acquire magnetic Frederick County Forestry Board name tags for about $10.00 each. After some discussion Heather also said that she would look into baseball caps and perhaps an orange or yellow florescent vest that we can wear for various functions and while we are doing logging site exams. Once again Mike suggested that a dark windbreaker with Forestry Board Inspector or Forest Environmental Management Association might be a good idea. (Board members pretty much ignored these comments.)

   • Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Workshop: Ginny suggested that the Board explore the possibility of conducting a workshop to alert landowners about EAB and what are their options for management / control of this pest. The workshop should look at the problem as it relates to individual trees in a landscape situation as well as in the forest. After much discussion, Ginny made a motion to “Schedule an EAB workshop for March 2015.” The motion was seconded and passed by those present. Action Items: Mike will see if the Extension Office is open for this program on Thursday March 19. We will come up with some topics and speakers for this program soon, develop an agenda, then publicize the program.

And so, as another productive year of Forestry Boarding comes to a close the general consensus was that everybody should have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday Season and Productive and Happy 2015! Salute