Meeting Minutes

Wednesday April 12th, 2023

6PM @ Black Hill Ranger Station

 

Attendees:

Gabrielle Oldham             Katie Kranich                                  Tom Frederick  

John Bennett                     Ron Anderson                                   Kathie Jarmon

Matt Spiroff                       

                                                                                               

Gabrielle brought the meeting to order at 6:01 PM.   

The March meeting minutes were reviewed and approved by the board via email and posted to the board’s website on 3/11/23 .

*** The April meeting of the Cecil County Forest Conservancy District Board was previously scheduled for April 5th, 2023.  The meeting was rescheduled to April 12th, 2023 as the secretary of the board was not available due to a wildfire at the Soldier’s Delight Natural Environment Area.***

Treasurer’s report

·         John reported no new changes to the board’s accounts.

Maryland Big Tree Program Update:

·         John gave the county report, and his report is provided below:

MBTP Report – March 2023

  For Cecil – I stopped again at the home of the county champion sugar maple—on a Sunday this time.  As last time, no one home.  Left permission form again.  Visited Perryville Town Park.  Numerous good-sized American beech but nothing that would qualify as the minimum is now 254 points, which would require a 13’ circumference.  Most trees were in the 8’-10’ circumference range.  Drive thru downtown Perryville; there is a qualifying pin oak on Aiken Avenue, privately owned, across from the Catholic school.  Access to Perry Point is closed at the railroad bridge.  Also noticed a very large Yoshino cherry on MD 273 near Fair Hill.  It would qualify and would be a county champion should anyone want to visit the owner.

State – 37 trees were measured in March; 17 re-measures and 20 new trees.  In the first 3 months 104 trees have been measured—on pace for 400+ trees in 2023 and on average better than a tree a day.  26 trees have been re-measured and 36 have been reported dead.  That is close to 1/3 of the 2023 re-measurements.

  New trees were measured in 9 counties.  The team of Linda Barker and Marc Lipnick did 5 new trees at North Point State Park and 3 new trees at Patapsco Valley State Park.

  The Garrett County Forestry Board with Melissa Nash did 3 new trees at the newly discovered Kitzmiller Botanical Gardens.  This arboretum was started by Melvin Brown, co-author of Woody Plants of Maryland and was unknown by any of the Garrett County Board until last fall.  The Board is working on measuring and cataloging the trees and creating a virtual tour.  Some of the original signage needs replacing.  It was established in 1948 while Mr. Brown was teaching at Kitzmiller High School.  (article attached.)

  The team of Bennett, Sherring, O’Hare, McCathran & Drew did 4 new trees in Talbot and Dorchester Counties.

  Gabe Calahan is the Fire Suppression Manager for The Nature Conservancy.  His duties include the 5K+ acres TNC owns along the Nassawango Creek in Wicomico and Worcester.  He partnered with Dr. Jeff Kirwan, retired forestry professor, Virginia Tech, and the former Virginia Big Tree Coordinator, to measure two new State Champions.  They are a new loblolly pine at 274 points and a new Atlantic white cedar at 208 points.  We do not yet have a photo of the loblolly.

 

Figure 1. Dr. Jeff Kirwan, Virginia Tech,.standing beside new Maryland Champion Atlantic White Cedar.

 

Natural Resources Career Camp (NRCC) Update:

·         Gabrielle reported that Cecil has 1 student to interview for camp.  Interview date, time and location are to be determined.

Website Update:

Ron gave the update:

·         The April meeting agenda was uploaded to the website in April.

·         Ron demonstrated the newest update of a map of the Cecil County Big Trees that he has been working on.  Ron will continue to develop the map to further refine it and increase ease of use.

·         Discussion based on whether certain trees should still be listed on database and on the mapping program.  Gabrielle plans to follow up with 1 landowner to see if the board still has permission to measure the trees, and include them on MBTP website and map of Cecil Big Trees.

Old Business:

·         The board will meet prior to the regular board meeting on 5/3/23 to bag white oak seedlings to be given away at the Garden Market on May 5th & 6th.  The board will pick up booth materials from Black Hill Ranger Station on 5/4/23 to begin setting the booth up.

·         Tome School requested a small number of seedlings for their color run in April.  The board agreed to pull approximately 20 white oak seedlings from the bag of seedlings to give to Tome.

·         The St. Mary Anne's Episcopal Church Garden Mart will be held on Friday, May 5th from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. and on Saturday May 6th from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  The Board agreed to rent a 10' x 10' space for $100.  Set up for the booth will be Thursday May 4th--time to be determined.  The Board will be passing out free white oak seedlings to interested visitors.  Staffing for the Garden Market has been determined via email.

New Business:

·         The board discussed inviting staff from Elk Neck State Forest, and Central Region’s 5 Million Tree Initiative staff to discuss their ongoing work at a future board meeting.  These DNR staff will be rescheduled at future meetings.

The meeting was adjourned approximately 9:00 PM.

The next meeting will be held on May 3rd, with seedling packing at 4:30pm, and the regular meeting starting at 6:00 PM.