Frederick County

Forest Conservancy District Board

September 12, 2016 Meeting Minutes

Those Present: Tom Anderson, Claude Eans, Steve Thrasher, Lori Schoonover, Vince Perrotta, Tyson Rose, Dawne Howard, Steve Thrasher, Mike Kay

  1. Vince called the meeting to order.

  2. Treasurer’s report: Claude indicated that we received interest of $.28 /June, $.30/July, and $.35/August with our account. Claude sent a $125 check to the Forestry Board Foundation to cover Jack Stohlman’s NRCC Activity Fee. Mike mentioned that he is planning a training for Pesticide ApplicatorRecertification in May, 2017. In the past there has been no charge for this meeting even though we provide lunch for the attendees. Due to the high demand for this meeting and the fact that we signed up 165 people last year and 100 attended the program, committee members decided to institute a $20 fee for non-DNR folks. Our plan is to coordinate sign up and payment through Eventbrite. The applicant will submit payment to this vendor and they will send electronic payment to a bank account. Mike asked the Board if he could utilize their checking account to accept these funds. Mike mentioned that the Board would receive $5.00 payment per application. What the Board would have to do is send payment to the vendors in charge of lunch and morning refreshments. After some discussion a motion was made to “Have the Forestry Board assume the role as Treasury for this Pesticide Recertification Meeting.” The motion was seconded and passed by those present. Mike will work with Claude to develop this transaction.

  3. Logging site exams: Two plans were submitted during the meeting. Mike will coordinate for site review via emails. (Mike and Steve will do these on Friday, September 16, 2016.)

  4. NRCC Camp: Dawne and Claude were modeling the official NRCC team jersey to our meeting. Claude indicated that he had thought about attending camp for the last 3 years and finally decided to go. Claude and Pillar attended camp on Wednesday, which was College Night, along with Dawne and her husband. (Dave also attended camp.) Claude found the camp to be very well run, well organized, informative, and fun. Claude enjoyed College Night mentioning that representatives from Virginia Tech, Penn State, West Virginia University, Allegany College, Garret Community College, and the University of Maryland were present. Claude also greatly enjoyed the Night Sounds talk presented by Kevin Dodge at the Planetarium. Dawne put together a notebook from camp that has numerous photos of the camp, copies of the agenda, student applications, and the write ups submitted by students detailing their impression of camp, and thank you letters submitted by the students. Dawne said she had a wonderful time at camp and enjoyed talking to the Frederick County students especially Spenser Becker. Dawne indicated that Bartlett Tree deliver some saplings that the students planted, the stream survey was one of the student’s favorite classes, and that she enjoyed College Night. Members looked at the binder Dawne put together and indicated that this would be very useful during student interviews to have the students look at to get a better appreciation of what NRCC is all about. Dawne also mentioned that we should put some thought into recruitment, the interview process, and perhaps we could provide a cookout for students next year, prior to the meeting as post camp interview of sorts. We all thought these were good ideas and thought they would make for interesting discussions at future meetings. Some discussion of whether or not the final edition of the Nature Notes article about camp was drafted. Mike thought that he had sent this out but he will send it around again. The idea of providing the students with low cost digital cameras for their use at camp was discussed briefly.

  5. Sustainability Commission: Tom indicated that the Commission is sponsoring a public meeting on Friday, October 28, 2016 to overview and discuss waste management options for the county in the wake of the incinerator initiative being voted down. Tom mentioned that there will be discussion about how to prevent excessive waste stemming from the public school lunches etc. This meeting will be held in the Yellow Springs area and is open to the public.

  6. Nature Notes: Lori indicated that she has a good backlog of articles which she will be sending Karen soon. Lori will send Karen the NRCC article ASAP.

  7. Web Site: Tyson mentioned that the Web Site is up to date. Tyson requested some NRCC photos that he can use on the site. Tyson posted a notice about the Audubon Bird Seed sale that is now in progress. Tyson mentioned that he would like to yield control of the web site to Tom before Thanksgiving, November 24, 2016. Tom said he will get together with Tyson to affect this transition.

  8. Other business:

  • Steve mentioned that he is very impressed with the effort Dawne put forth with NRCC and the fact that she has been present at all of our meetings. Steve asked Dawne if she would consider joining the board as an official member. Dawne accepted Steve’s invitation and said she would love to join the Board. Mike will send Dawne an application ASAP.

  • Meeting place: Mike mentioned that following the October meeting the Tea Room will not be available to us until May, 2017. Mike led a brief discussion on possible alternate locations for the meeting during the winter months. Some of these locations included, the library, the Ranger Station at Gambrill, The new Parks and Rec facility on Montevue Lane, scheduling a dinner meeting at a place like Golden Coral, the Hunting Lodge on the Frederick City Watershed, and, following the meeting Lori mentioned that she and Keith would open their home for meetings if people wanted to travel to the western part of the county. Mike will lead an email discussion about these options to help ensure that we are not “out in the cold” come November.