Meeting Minutes

Wednesday November 2nd, 2022

6PM @ Black Hill Ranger Station

 

Attendees:

Dori Murphy                      Katie Kranich                                  Tom Frederick  

John Bennett                     Ron Anderson                                   Kathie Jarmon

Matt Spiroff                                                      

 

Ron brought the meeting to order at 6:04 PM.   

The October minutes were reviewed and approved.

Treasurer’s report

1)      John reported no changes to the board’s accounts. No changes to the CD rate.

2)      The board voted to approve writing a check to purchase 2000 white pine seedlings to give away to Cecil County schools. The approved check amount was $425.

Maryland Big Tree Program Update:

John gave the county report, and details are provided below:

MBTP Report – October

  No trees were measured or re-measured in Cecil County.  I received 2 signed permission forms—one for the staghorn sumac and the other for the pair of European beech.  Both are in North East.  Shawn Day also gave permission to measure the black oak at the ranger station.  Kathie reports the mimosa on MD 273 is unlikely to qualify as the minimum at 60% is 147 points.  Kathie’s estimate is 127 points.  I submitted a previously measured sycamore at Elk Neck State Park to the Forestry For The Bay Monster Tree Contest and it won 2nd place.

  Volunteers measured/re-measured 34 trees in October—nearly a record number—as follows:

Baltimore City – 7; Baltimore – 7; Carroll – 2; Frederick – 4; Howard – 13; Montgomery – 1.

Two trees in Frederick were re-measurements as well as 7 in Howard; the remaining are new trees.  4 trees in Howard County were found to be deceased.  There are 79 trees remaining to be re-measured in 2022.

  Fred Chalfant, Baltimore City Forestry Board, is now employed by the BC Division of Forestry and put in charge of updating the BC big tree collection.  In October he has been working with volunteers to canvas the grounds of the Cyburn Arboretum, which is now owned by the Division.  In October he and his team found and measured 7 new trees that were previously not registered.  Six trees are new State Champions; 5 of them are new species to the Maryland register.  All are natives; most are native to Maryland.  Most are small, shrub-like trees that don’t usually grow large enough to be noticed by volunteers and/or qualify as trees.

MD natives:  Cockspur hawthorn, Gray Dogwood, Winged Sumac, Fringetree, American Plum, Buttonbush.  The other tree, a limber pine, is a native of the American west.

  Below are some photos of some of my favorite trees from October: 

 

 

Figure 1.

 

NRCC Update:

·         No NRCC update due to Gabrielle being absent.

Website Update:

Ron gave the update:

·         The September meeting minutes were posted to the board’s website in October, in addition to the November meeting agenda.

·         No Maryland Big Tree Program trees to upload, and no NRCC photos to upload in October.

Old Business:

·         Matt provided a report on the Maryland Forestry Board Association Meeting in October.

 New Business:

·         The board would like to reach out to Elk Neck State Park managers to let them know they won second place in the Forestry for The Bay Monster Tree Contest.

·         There will be no December meeting of the board.

The meeting was adjourned approximately 7:15 PM.

The next meeting will be held on January 4th, at 6:00 PM.