MEETING MINUTES

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Black Hill Ranger Station

Attendees:

Gabrielle Oldham Dori Murphy

Ron Anderson Kathie Jarmon

John Bennett Tom Frederick

Michael Morgan

Treasurer’s Report:

Submitted by Tom Frederick

The financial status of the CCFCDB was discussed by the present members,

Report on State Association Mtg:

At the meeting State Forester Don Van Hassent went over some personnel changes including Matt Hurd being chosen as Eastern Regional Forester and Chris Smith from Harford/Cecil Project going to the Urban/Training Officer position.

A Tree Plotter presentation was given. This is a mapping program for notable or big trees, plantings, etc. The mapping can contain information about each point. The Maryland Forest Foundation and Anne Arundel County Board may look into purchasing this for local Boards use. A subsequent letter came out proposing a pilot project funded possibly by AA Board. The Cecil Board voted 6-0 to tentatively participate in a project to use it to map public access Big Trees in Cecil County. This vote will need to be revisited if there are costs to the Cecil Board.

Jim Bardsley gave a presentation on Spotted Lanternfly, which was found in Cecil County recently.

Joli McCathran and John gave presentations and slide shows on Big Trees. Some trees still need to be remeasured across the State for 2018. 2019 will be another big year on remeasurements.

Gabrielle gave the report for NRCC and slide presentation on the 2018 NRCC.

Updates were given on all the committees and the Maryland Forest Foundation. Dawn Balinski gave the Treasurer’s report.

Gary Allen is working on setting up an Urban Forestry Camp at the U of MD based on NRCC, if funding is available.

John and Gabrielle gave a much more detailed review of the presentations at the meeting. There were about 30 attendees.

NRCC:

Gabrielle reported that applications have been received for the Program already and there were a few changes in the application.

Gabrielle will be presenting at the MAEOE conference in January or February in Towson.

Gabrielle noted the donation from Wayne Merkel from his retirement cookout of $325 to NRCC.

Update on Big Tree Program:

The Board voted to continue to pay for Cecil expenses in the Big Tree Program.

John went over the remaining list to be measured in the County. He also stopped on his way to the meeting to get several permission forms signed, notably the Calvert White Oak. He also showed the Board the list of 2019 remeasures. It contained less than this year, but still a good amount.

John, Dori and Kathie set up a day to remeasure trees in Cecil in December.

Ron handed out a list of Cecil Big Trees that still need to be photographed for the website.

Website Update:

Ron reported no major changes.

The Board went onto the site and Ron went through the links that he has added for things such as tree insect pests/diseases.

Gabrielle gave Ron the 2018 NRCC photos.

Cochran Forest Retention Area Harvest Review:

The Board voted to approve the Plan 6-0. Tom will send out the notifications.

Critical Area Timber Harvest Plan Review Process Updates:

Tom went over the questions that were raised by Cecil County on harvesting in an expanded Critical Area Buffer. Basically nothing has changed since the 2000 letter from the Critical Area Commission confirming that harvesting is allowed in the expanded buffer, unless Rare, Threatened or Endangered (RTE) species are in the area and have their own no-cut buffer. The Critical Area Commission also wants the expanded buffer shown on the map.

New Business:

Ron will try to propagate some of his germinated Wye Oak offspring acorns this Fall and then give them away once they survive next Spring.

Michael informed the Board of his visit to the Gifford Pinchot estate in upstate Pennsylvania. This included information about the connection between Theodore Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, the first US Forest Service director and Fred Besley, Maryland’s first Forest Service director.

The next meeting will be on December 12, 2018. This is the second Wednesday of the month.