Those Present: Dawne Howard Vince Perrotta, Dave Hunter, Dave Barrow, Bruce Phillips, Tom Anderson, Bethany Dell'agnello Claude Eans, Sonia Demiray, Drake Russell, Mike Kay

This was our first attempt at a virtual meeting; and, for the most part things went pretty smoothly.

1. Call to order: Vince called the meeting to order. Vince announced that Drake has received his commission and is now a member of the Board. Mike has a certificate that he will get to Drake. Thanks for volunteering with the Board Drake!

2. Treasurer’s Report: Dave mentioned that we received $.12 interest in October; our ending balance was $5,574.08. Sonia asked if the Board is engaged in fundraising events. This led to a discussion on fund raising and our Treasury. Dave mentioned that if we kept yearly donations to less than $5,000 it would save us from filing a special report. Most of our yearly expenses occur from NRCC camp where we spend $600 per student. Some years we send up to 6 students to camp. Our yearly income comes from a $650 stipend from Frederick County, proceeds from workshops, seedling donations at Green Events, and donations from the website. Sonia mentioned that she can assist with fund raising activities if we are interested in doing so.

3. Logging site exams: Mike indicated that no plans were received during the month.

4. Fall Statewide Meeting: Mike attended the virtual meeting along with Tom. Some of our recollections of the meeting are as follows:

   • The Forest Service Budget is in stable condition. However, we lost the Forest Ranger position in the Washington – Frederick Project as a result of cost cutting measures. There are 7 vacancies in the Forest Service that will not be filled until the hiring freeze has been lifted.

   • The Big Tree Program is alive and well. Jolie presented a slide show of big or notable trees across the state. She gave a shout out to Frederick County for all our recent accomplishments measuring existing Big Trees and finding additional trees that were not on the registry.

   • NRCC was not held this year but there was a real nice program on Teri Bachelor a Forester on the Eastern Shore who passed away this summer from cancer. Teri was one of the first females to attend the camp, get a degree in Forestry from WVU, and work for the MD Forest Service. Teri was active in a number of Forestry Organizations including SAF, MFA, and the Kent Queen Anne’s Forestry Board. Teri was a really nice person who told it like it was. She will be missed.

5. Timber Harvest Plan: Bruce distributed a handout and discussed all the steps that were necessary to obtain a logging permit in Frederick County. This handout also included a flow chart to help simplify the process. Mike sent Bruce an example logging plan from a timber harvest completed on the Frederick City Watershed. Dave said he could work with Bruce to load this information onto the web page. Dave suggested that we include links to the referenced handouts, including a link to a mapping program so applicants have the ability to draft and submit a high quality map of the logging site.

6. Tree walk/Big Tree Measuring: Bethany mentioned that she recently finished a new section of the walk that will include 14 new trees. Two trees that had been previously selected (horse-chestnut, hackberry) have now been removed. Bethany spoke to Frederick City’s new Arborist and he had saved the sign for the horse chestnut and he said he would have a new horse chestnut replanted and install the sign. Bethany is in the process a finding another hackberry for the walk. Bethany also relayed that we had a question about the identity of a large oak tree most of us thinking that it is a red oak. However, some experts think that this could be a hybrid. Wondering how to label this tree Bethany asked for our advice and a few suggestions were made, a.) Label it as a red oak and indicate in the narrative that it is probably a hybrid, b.) Label it as a red oak hybrid.) Purchase two labels one for red oak and one for red oak hybrid and switch labels if in the final analysis it is deemed to be a hybrid. Bethany also said she has three good examples of linden trees and has to whittle it down to a single specimen.

7. PR Activities: Sonia mentioned that she is finishing up an article on the Big Tree Program for distribution. Sonia also mentioned that she needs more ideas for articles and mentioned the following. How about an article on Teri Bachelor and how she broke barriers in what was a male dominated profession of Forestry? (Mike said that he would contact Anne Gilbert to see if there was some information photos about Teri and if it would be okay for us to use them. Another idea was an article on climate change and the Mobilize Frederick initiative. In the urban front Bethany suggested that Sonia can tour Waterford Park and talk to Ginny Brace about all the tree planting, invasive removals, meadow plantings and all the other environmental enhancements the Friends of Waterford Park completed over the years. Sonia also asked Drake if he was interested in being the topic of an article since he is the newest Board member. Sonia asked Drake to submit a bio and Drake agreed to do so. Sonia said that she would like to draft 1 to 2 articles per month that showcases the environment and the Frederick County Forestry Board.

8. Nature Notes: Dave mentioned that as of today we have 13 Nature Notes pending publication at the Frederick News Post and we have 23 awaiting review.

9. Web site: Dave received notice saying that we only have 30% of our free space available for the website. To reduce the amount of space used Dave has found that if he uploads images to flickr, it allows him to download high resolution images at a reduced size for our website. Dave has uploaded a lot of the website photos using flickr and hopes to complete the process by month’s end. Dave also mentioned that he received the first download of photos from Bethany to update older images and begin building the Hood Tree Walk series. Dave will begin this project once he finishes his first endeavor.