Meeting Minutes

Wednesday February 8th, 2023

6PM @ Black Hill Ranger Station

Attendees:

Gabrielle Oldham Katie Kranich Tom Frederick

John Bennett Ron Anderson Kathie Jarmon

Matt Spiroff Jackie Lyle Rick Lyle

Calvin Bonenberger Dori Murphy Michael Morgan

Gabrielle brought the meeting to order at 6:05 PM.

The January meeting minutes were reviewed and approved by the board via email on 1/11/23.

Treasurer’s report

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

· The board approved 1 new check to be written for the 2023 St. Mary Anne's Garden Market registration fee. The check was in the amount of $100. Additional information regarding the Garden Market is below in “New Business.”

Maryland Big Tree Program Update:

· The 2023 Maryland Big Tree Program Annual Report is now available. It will soon be posted to the board’s website.

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

MBTP Report – January 2023

For Cecil - I mailed permission forms to two owners on 1/22; neither have been returned. Jackie visited the site of the longleaf pine; it may be gone.

Statewide – 5 trees have been re-measured: 2 each in Baltimore and Montgomery Counties, and one in Garrett. 6 trees have been reported dead, including State Champions balsam fir (hit by lightning), spicebush (disappeared), black cherry (died). We have permission forms for 30 trees returned. We started the year with 190 trees to re-measure. The ownership of all privately owned trees has been confirmed using the MD SDAT website. 2 trees from the 2022 list were also re-measured.

27 new trees were measured in January in 5 counties. 15 were nominated and measured by super-volunteer Marc Lipnick, 11 by Linda Barker assisting Marc, and 7 by Geary Schwemmer. A team of arborists and volunteers based at Patuxent Research Refuge found and measured a new shortleaf pine. A combined team from DNR Parks and DNR Forest Service measured two eastern hemlocks in Swallow Falls State Park. Only 3 of the 27 were on private property; the rest at various parks, including Swallow Falls, Patapsco Valley, Gunpowder Falls and Lake Roland. There were also three new trees measured at Towson University in an area not usually open to the public. We have listed them as public access, but with limitations. One of the trees at Patapsco Valley, a yellow buckeye, is the new State Champion.

Figure 1. Trees referenced in MD Big Tree Program Report.

Natural Resources Career Camp (NRCC) Update:

· Gabrielle reported that NRCC registration is underway and at least 10 students have been accepted to camp so far.

· Gabrielle reported on the NRCC booth at the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE).

Website Update:

Ron gave the update:

· The January meeting minutes were posted to the board’s website in January following the board’s approval via email.

· The February meeting agenda was uploaded to the website in January.

· The board agreed that the Maryland Big Tree Program Annual Reports should be posted to the board’s website. The past 5 years of Annual Reports will be posted to the website.

Old Business:

New Business:

· One Critical Area timber harvest plan for Newstead Farm, LLC was reviewed by the board. The board voted to recommend the approval of the harvest plan to the Cecil County Planning and Zoning with one condition. The board’s condition is that: “No stream crossings (including Waters of the State) should be conducted during the harvest unless they are delineated in the approved sediment and erosion control plan, timber harvest plan, and adhere to all applicable regulations.”

· 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. Gabrielle explained that it is very helpful to have two people at the booth at all times. The Board will be passing out free white oak seedlings to interested visitors.

· The board would like to conduct a service project at the Elk Neck State Forest Arboretum to help maintain items such as pruning and staking and guying of trees.

· The board would like to create an ArcGIS Story Map of big trees across the county.

The meeting was adjourned approximately 9:30 PM.

The next meeting will be held on March 1st, at 6:00 PM.