Those Present: Tom Anderson, Steve Thrasher, Vince Perrotta, Lori Schoonover, Keith, Tyson Rose, Jim Arnold, Dawne Howard, Dave Hunter, Mike Kay

This was a busy day for Forestry Board members; and, action packed. From 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm most members participated in a forest inventory dry run training to prepare for the program we will provide Frederick County FFA team members. This training is scheduled for Saturday, May 13, 2017 at Gambrill State Park. In addition, from 6:00 – 7:00 pm Board members greeted and interviewed two applicants for NRCC camp, Mr. Rhett Butler and Ms. Elizabeth Haney. We were able to sustain this frantic pace by feasting on pizza, brownies, and a choice between Coke, Sprite, and seltzer water. Finally, following the interviews the Board sat down for its monthly business meeting.

1. Keith called the meeting to order.

2. Treasurer’s Report: Claude indicated that he deposited a number of checks for the upcoming Pesticide Refresher course and wrote some checks to cover the MUCFC Grant for the tree planting in Thurmont, and for tonight’s dinner.

3. Logging site exams: Mike indicated that no plans were received prior to the meeting.

4. NRCC: We discussed the recently completed interviews and decided that both students would make excellent representatives and voted to send both to camp. Mike will notify students of their acceptance. We also discussed the questions developed for the interviews and decided that it is a good idea to have some standard questions so as to foster conversation and get the student talking. We don’t necessarily have to pose each question though, they can serve as a guide. We also discussed the camp journal we asked both students to submit. We are hoping that the students can take a couple photos with their smart phones or digital camera to enhance these narratives.

5. Thurmont Tree Planting: Tom, Steve, Claude, and Mike attended a planting at Thurmont Town Park on Saturday, April 22, 2017. (Earth Day.) We assisted volunteers with the planting of 50 containerized trees throughout the park. The City of Thurmont is replanting a number of trees in order to mitigate the loss of ash trees from emerald ash borer. Thurmont is also trying to keep some ash alive by controlling the eab with insecticide injection. Claude took some photos and put together an article for the web site.

6. Nature Notes: Lori mentioned that Karen Gardner is no longer the Editor in charge of Nature Notes. We are now working with Sue Guynn who was the previous Editor before Karen took over. Lori mentioned that she is getting low on articles and would appreciate getting some more content. Lori suggested that we take some photos of the Saturday FFA Training and develop a Nature Notes article.

7. Web Site: Tyson mentioned that the Web Site is up to date.

8. Sustainability Commission: Tom indicated that the Sustainability Commission is going to participate in the Frederick County Green Fest on May 20, 21. The Commission will have a booth at the event that Tom will help staff. Tom overviewed some new LED light bulbs now on the market and why they are superior to the older versions. Tom provided each member with a sample LED bulb.

9. After a brief pause to catch our breath somebody made a motion to adjourn which was seconded and we made like a banana and split. (After cleaning up Tea Room of course.)