Meeting Minutes

Wednesday June 7th, 2023

6PM @ Black Hill Ranger Station

Attendees:

Gabrielle Oldham Tom Frederick Michael Morgan

John Bennett Kathie Jarmon Dori Murphy

Matt Spiroff Calvin Bonenberger

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

The May meeting minutes were reviewed and approved by the board via email on 5/11/23.

Treasurer’s report

· John reviewed that 2 checks were written in May, both checks were approved by the board.

· The board voted to approve the writing on one check in the amount of $500 in June. The check is for the Natural Resources Career Camp tuition for a second camper from Cecil County.

· The board discussed ensuring the board allocates enough funds to support the board’s expenditures over the next year.

Maryland Big Tree Program Update:

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

MBTP Report – May 2023

For Cecil – On 5/9 I discovered that BT-3668, the State co-champion pignut hickory, had fallen. It had significant basal rot. It grew along Rosebank Lane, next to Rosebank Cemetery in Calvert. It fell WNW, away from the cemetery, into the woods—and therefore caused no significant damage. Ron Anderson removed it from the Cecil website and the driving tour.

State – 18 trees were measured in May; 9 new trees and 9 re-measurements. Eleven of the trees were in Washington County, 2 in Calvert and 5 in Anne Arundel (with one still under discussion). Unfortunately the team in Washington found BT-0444, the State Champion common hackberry, was deceased. It had significant interior rot and had collapsed. It is a Maryland GOAT tree (greatest of all times) and had been the Maryland State Champion since before 1990. In 2013 it had a total point value of 373 points with a circumference of 20’ 2” and a height of 106’.

The same team of Doug Inkley, Don and Linda Grove re-measured 4 of the large chinkapin oaks that Washington County is famous for. Three of them had exactly the same total score of 303 points; thus creating State tri-champions. They also measured, with DNR Forester Aaron Cook, 4 new table mountain pines at Indian Springs WMA. Two of them are new State co-champions. Aaron discovered this grove of pines while participating in a controlled burn at Indian Springs. All 4 trees had evidence of burn damage but are expected to be fine.

Chris and Lisa Garrett measured two trees on private property in Calvert County. The bitternut hickory became the new county champion.

Joli McCathran and Don VanHassent measured/re-measured 5 trees in Anne Arundel County. One of the new trees was determined to be a southern red oak with significant genetic material from cherrybark oak. The latter is not native to Anne Arundel but is found in neighboring Charles County. Jim Bardsley reviewed the evidence in detail to make the ID.

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

Natural Resources Career Camp (NRCC) Update:

· A second applicant from Cecil County has been interviewed and accepted to NRCC.

· Gabrielle reported that NRCC registration is nearly full.

Website Update:

Matt gave the update via an email provided by Ron:

· put May meeting minutes on website

· put June agenda on Current Agenda link

· added Cecil Big Tree Driving Tour to website.

· added new features in Big Tree Map software

1. have calculation for 'as the crow flies' distance between flagged Big Tree GPS locations

2. have arrow showing travel between BT's

3. compass direction is calculated and shown

4. travel between trees can be reversed by clicking on 'Reverse' button

· updated map User Guide to explain new options

Old Business:

· St. Mary Anne’s Garden Market discussion. The Garden Market went well, and the church reported a great visitor turnout.

New Business:

· Discussion of the creation of an advisory board for the Elk Neck State Forest. The board generated some questions to be followed up on.

· 1 Critical Area Timber Harvest plan was reviewed by the board. The board recommended the approval of the plan to the Cecil County Division of Planning and Zoning.

· Spongy Moth update from Maryland Department of Agriculture discussion. The board discussed meeting with county representatives to

The meeting was adjourned approximately at 8:45 PM.

The next meeting will be held on July 5th, at 6:00 PM.