Frederick County
Forest Conservancy District Board
November 8, 2021 Meeting Minutes
Those present: Tom Anderson, Vince Perrotta, Dave Hunter, Bethany Dellagnello, Drake Russell, Sonia Demiray, Dawne Howard, Mike Kay
Call to Order: Vince called the meeting to order
Treasurer’s Report: Dave indicated the following deposits: $.11 October interest, $156.85 proceeds from Second Sunday tree walk, there were no payments. Our ending balance was $5,636.81
Logging Site Exams: Mike mentioned that no plans have been received prior to the meeting.
Catoctin Stewardship Initiative: Mike mentioned that another meeting is scheduled for this Tuesday, at Thorpewood to provide a program on the controlled burn on the Frederick City Watershed and to share a list of possible objectives for the CSI program to receive feedback and flesh out other objectives the residents may have. We are also going to see if the residents wish to develop a steering committee composed of key landowners, and interested parties.
Ideas for funding: At the last meeting, we discussed the possibility of creating a Big Trees of Frederick Book that we can sell as well. Bruce researched possible costs and had e-mailed a document outlining possible procedures. Most of those present thought that given the time and expense of writing, editing and publishing, especially obtaining professional level photography of all the big trees, would be more than we can handle. Perhaps the State Association can do something on the State Level? Sonia and Bethany will continue to work and promote second Sunday tree walks; we may add a walk to underline winter ID of trees. Another idea Sonia will explore is “Tree Shirts” for the Holiday giving season with fun tree related slogans (I.e. “Trees: A growing concern” or “May the Forest be with you”.)
Urban Forestry: Bethany mentioned that the October 2nd Sunday Tree Walk was postponed due to weather conditions and that the makeup date was sparsely attended. (4 people). Nonetheless the November program scheduled for this coming Sunday has sold out with the maximum of 20 people in attendance. Plans are to hold another program in December.
PR Activities: Sonia mentioned that there will be three upcoming installments in the Green Section the Big Tree Program, The Controlled Burning Program on the Frederick City Watershed, and a program on the Catoctin Stewardship Initiative. We discussed other articles such as one on NRCC: Sonia asked if there we knew of a previous camper who now works in the field of natural Resources and Mike mentioned that Cunningham Falls / Gambrill Park Manager Mark Spurrier is a graduate. Mike said that he would introduce Mark to Sonia via email to see if he can be interviewed for an article. In addition the Board discussed other potential articles including a series describing the various forest cover types found in Frederick County and how to identify trees in the winter for the January and February Green Sections.
Nature Notes: As per Dave Barrow, we are running short on Nature Notes articles. The News Post is looking for articles specific to Frederick County for Nature Notes.
Web Site: Website, Flickr, Facebook & Instagram published weekly nature notes. Had one week where the nature note was delayed on Facebook and Instagram due to a problem with the nature note exceed the number of characters allowed. Corrected this problem 2 days later thanks to Bethany for noticing it. Finished realigning all photo to the tree species instead of family. I found a duplication and was able to solve the problem with Bethany assistance.
The move of the website was put on hold due to personal issues. Social media posts for the Tree Walks and for the Thurmont Tree planting around the Skateboard Park had a very good reception across all websites, which is especially interesting as we are expanding awareness to new audiences.
New Business: New Business: Tom and Mike relayed items discussed at the Statewide Meeting of the Forestry Boards including:
After single handily running the Association for the last 10 years Jim Bardsley is stepping down and a new Executive Committee has been nominated. Jolie McCathern will be the new chair and each region will have a new representative. Dawn Balinsky will remain as the Treasurer and the Executive Secretary will consist of a Forest Service person hired for Anne Gilbert’s previous position.
The 5 Million Tree program was outlined by Anne Hairston – Strang the Acting State Forester.
Jolie had a nice slide show of various Big Tree measuring particles including our measuring of the big white oak in Mt. Airy and a photo of Bethany measuring a large (Yellow Buckeye?) in Frederick City.
The NRCC program went very well last summer despite the Covid protocols and a lighter than desirable (29 student) enrollment.
The 4 ladies that were chosen for Mel Noland Fellowship introduced themselves. (Mike mentioned that he saw a large uptick in NRCC enrollments with the intern’s recruitment efforts.
Jack Perdue had a very interesting program on the State Forests and their activities.