Those present: Dawne Howard, Tom Anderson, Vince Perrotta, Dave Barrow, Dave Hunter, Bruce Philips, Keith Schoonover, Sonia Demiray, Bethany Dell'Agnello, Paul Walker, Mike Kay

1. Call to Order: Vince called the meeting to order.

2. Treasurer’s Report: Dave indicated that we received $.13in interest. Our ending balance is $5,685.61

3. Logging Site Exams: Mike indicated that we received one plan for the Kevin and Lauren Storm property. Mike suggested that we schedule a site visit for next week in case other plans are submitted. Both Bruce and Sonia mentioned that they would like to conduct this inspection. Mike will coordinate a time and date with Bruce and Sonia via email.

4. Climate Change Committee: Tom reintroduced Paul to the group. Paul has met with the Board a few times in the past. Paul had a short Power Point that we tried to display but with no luck. Finally Sonia emailed the slides to members so they could view the slides. Some of the highlights of Paul’s discussion were:

   1. The Climate Emergency Group recommends forming an overview organization to coordinate all the activities of the group.

   2. Draft general Recommendations. The goal of the project is to increase forested canopy in the County by 10% by 2050.

   3. Publish metrics such as forest surveys and climate solutions.

   4. Solicit support within the community for reforestation, developing Stewardship Plans, creating more resilient ecosystems by managing some forests to eliminate invasive plants, develop vigorous forest stands, and protect the wildlife and natural heritage values where it is prudent to do so.

   5. Connect landowners to relevant programs.

   6. Develop necessary remote sensing to identify opportunities and gauge accomplishments.

   7. Bridge the gap between the Preservationists and Conservation communities through education and outreach.

   8. Promote Advocacy for canopy expansion and forest health.

   9. Paul mentioned that he is interfacing with the Smarter Growth Alliance and they would be interested in having a Forestry Board member join their group. The meet the first Thursday of the month. Please let Paul know if you are interested in joining this group.

   10. Bruce asked Paul if the Frederick City new Frederick City Arborist, Josh Dunk has been contacted for recommendations about the Climate Emergency program? Paul said that he has not but would be glad to do so. Another suggestion was to contact Jenny Willoughby from Frederick City since she oversees the Frederick City Watershed amongst other resources of the City.

   11. Sonia suggested that the Climate Group contact the MAEOE (Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education) since many schools have canopy goals on their campus along with instructing the next generation of citizens.

   12. Paul thanked Board members for their time and comments and left the meeting.

5. Big Tree Measuring: Bethany mentioned that Board members conducted 2 Big Tree Measuring outings during the month. The first outing was during a cold rainy day where the group was able to measure three trees. The second day it was warm and sunny and they measured two trees. Bethany indicated that the group was kind of rusty the first go around but by the second trip they were a well- oiled machine. All of the information and photos has been sent to John Bennett and we are up to date now.

6. Tree Walk: Bethany mentioned that she is part of a video being filmed at Hood College about women in natural resources. Bethany also led a tour of the Baker Park tree walk from members of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Bethany also mentioned that the Frederick City Arborist, Josh Dunk placed the original Horse Chestnut tree sign next to the newly planted tree that replaced the deceased tree.

7. Waterford Park Tree Planting: Dawne mentioned that she had a wonderful time at the planting. She was very impressed with Becky Wilson’s tree planting demonstration; and it was nice to see Ginny Brace again. Mike mentioned that the group from McClintock Distillery seemed to enjoy themselves and said they would like to return in the fall with some local bartenders to conduct another planting /assist with maintenance. Sonia mentioned we should take some photos for a press release during plantings such as this.

8. Arbor Day contest: After winning 2^nd place our entrant Kaitlyn Johnson won 10 trees for planting. Her mother Kristen Johnson indicated that Wolfsville Elementary School is open to planting trees on their campus. Ms. Johnson also wondered if the Forestry Board could help Wolfsville conduct this planting.

9. PR Activities: Sonia and Dave lead some discussions on a pair of topics, coordinating media outreach and should be have a Twitter, Instagram, and You Tube accounts. On the first topic Sonia thought it would be important to have a single source of contact with the Board to have a unified message. Members agreed with this and thought Sonia would be a good lead media person. As for the second topic, both Sonia and Dave mentioned that we need to look at digital outlets to get the word out to people under 40. Dave mentioned that our Green Fest Video had 1,625 views so far, most of which were on Facebook. Members thought it would be good to use these outlets. Dave Hunter said we should steer away from Tick Tock though. I don’t know if you want to mention that we are working on a series for Earth Day and Arbor Day in coordination with Hood College to promote the new tree walk, and also are fielding the idea of a tree farm series to local media

10. Nature Notes: Dave mentioned that the News Post has 33 articles awaiting publication and we have 24 awaiting final editing by Lori. Dave mentioned Sue is very happy to have a cache of articles that she can draw from. Dave also mentioned that the Emmitsburg Newspaper asked if they could run Nature Notes articles. After some discussion it was decided that we should allow the Emmitsburg paper to run articles that have already appeared in the News Post but we should contact the News Post first to let them know we are doing this.

11. Web Site: Dave mentioned that he posted notices on Tom and Mike’s awards on the Website. Dave also said that his wife Jan took a fabulous photo of a rainbow with a blooming redbud in the foreground that he also posted.

12. New Business: Mike mentioned that we now have 3 candidates for NRCC camp that we need to interview. (We normally do this prior to the May meeting.) This lead to a fairly lengthy discussion about our virtual meetings. Everyone is tired of this format and we had a couple members exit this meeting early from various frustrations about logging on or communicating in general. Most members also wish to interview the students in person for NRCC. Given that in all likelihood we can meet outdoors, most people have been vaccinated (Mike expects to be vaccinated soon!) we can wear masks, and social distance. Why can’t we meet in person again? Mike said that he will pose this question to Anne Gilbert who is our main liaison between the State Association and MD Forest Service. We will await a response.