Meeting Minutes

Wednesday May 3rd, 2023

6PM @ Black Hill Ranger Station

Attendees:

Gabrielle Oldham Katie Kranich Tom Frederick

John Bennett Ron Anderson Kathie Jarmon

Matt Spiroff Shawn Day Dori Murphy

Calvin Bonenberger

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

The April meeting minutes were reviewed and approved by the board via email on 5/2/23.

Elk Neck State Forest Update

· Shawn Day provided an update on Elk Neck State Forest including current and future projects on the forest.

· Shawn invited board members to attend the upcoming service day at the Elk Neck State Forest Arboretum. The scope of work includes tree maintenance items such as mulching, pruning, and replanting of 8 trees.

Treasurer’s report

· John reported 2 checks needed to be written, both checks were approved by the board. One check was written for the NRCC tuition fee for one NRCC student from Cecil County, in the amount of $500 A second check was written in the amount of $18.11 to reimburse Dori Murphy for supplies purchased for the board’s booth at the St. Mary Anne’s Garden Market.

Maryland Big Tree Program Update:

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

MBTP Report – March 2023

For Cecil – I was contacted by a citizen who visited last year’s Garden Market and wondered when I was coming to measure his tree. I searched for old emails and found my last one to him 8 months ago was to request that he send a signed permission form. I sent him a new email reminding him of this requirement—have not heard back. It might be helpful if we print and have on hand permission forms at the Garden Market.

State – 29 trees were measured in March; 11 re-measures and 18 new trees. In the first 4 months 133 trees have been measured.

New trees were measured in 6 counties. The team of Linda Barker and Marc Lipnick measured 4 new trees on private property in Baltimore County in two locations. One tree was a 434 point yellow poplar and one other was a 329 point pin oak – new State co-champion..

Melissa Nash partnered with two staff from The Nature Conservancy to measure two new trees on TNC property near Cranesville Swamp Preserve in Garrett County. One tree, the red spruce, is the new State Champion.

The team of Bennett, Sherring, and O’Hare re-measured 6 trees and measured two new trees in Caroline County. Most are county champions. One of the new trees is a very nice crabapple in Martinak State Park.

The team of Murphy, Bennett, and Sherring re-measured 5 trees and measured 5 new trees in Wicomico County—mostly in town Salisbury. The highlight was a 380-point sycamore in front of a spooky abandoned house. Most of the others are also county champions—some new, some old.

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

Natural Resources Career Camp (NRCC) Update:

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

· Gabrielle reported that NRCC registration is nearly full and approximately 5 spots currently remain open.

Website Update:

Ron gave the update:

· The May meeting agenda was posted to the board’s website.

· The boards web address (www.cecilfb.sailorsite.net) was changed to: www.cecilforestryboard.sailorsite.net .

A. Google searches for “cecilforestryboard” will now lead directly to the board’s website.

B. Any use of the old web address will automatically forward users to the new web address.

C. No other changes to software were made or are necessary for the web address change.

· Cecil County Big Trees Map software uploaded to the board’s website. The software will be made available to other organizations and county forestry boards when completed.

· The interactive map link can be found within the text at: http://www.cecilforestryboard.sailorsite.net/testCCBTP/CCBTP.htm

· The Cecil County Big Tree Driving Tour packet is to be uploaded to the board’s website.

Old Business:

· Gabrielle to follow up with 1 landowner to see if the public will still be able to access their property to view their Big Trees.

· Gabrielle delivered seedlings and materials to Tome School for their tree giveaway at their color run.

· Preparations were made at the May meeting for the St Mary Anne’s Garden Market. Gabrielle and Tom will set up the board’s booth on Thursday before the garden market.

New Business:

· Shawn Day discussed the creation of an advisory board for the Elk Neck State Forest and invited members of the forestry board to sit on the state forest advisory board. The board decided to make the issue a matter of discussion at the June meeting of the board (6/7/23).

· 1 Critical Area Timber Harvest plan has been submitted for the board to review. It will be reviewed at the June meeting of the board.

· The board discussed updating and refining the GPS coordinates for big trees in the county to make use of update GPS technology. Tentatively this project is to be done in the winter of 2023.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:45 PM.

The next meeting will be held on June 7th, at 6:00 PM.