Our next meeting will be

MEETING MINUTES - April 10, 2007

I. MEMBERSHIP:

Members in attendance were Forester, Herb Peddicord, Norman Dean,  John Webster, Don Bearden, and  Herb opened the meeting with the following update and summary:

II. REVIEW OF PAST ACTIVITY & UPDATE:

• Wisner Site: Dave Griffith and Fox Glove Lynn Slater planted 25 and 15 survived or 40%.
• Chestnut Grove - Herb, Norm, Don, and the Scouts planted 400 Hemlocks and the last time Herb checked 80% survived, but we need to check again.
• New Hope Road- Herb, Norm, Don, Rick Thomas planted 50, ten each of Black Oak, Hemlock, Black Cherry, Service Berry, S.Dogwood. Herb reported approx. 80% survived.  The team went back several times to water the trees, and staked and tubed about half of the trees.
• 4/18/07  Don and Gary Harding revisited the Tony Lynch stream restoration site that had been damaged by high water- 7 trees were restaked, 3 were retubed, and others watered.   Survival was good at this stream side.
• 4/19/07 Susan Taylor and Don attended the Town of Bath Arbor Day proclamation and tree planting ceremony with Herb at the end of Wisner Ave. At the Old English Cemetery. A red bud was planted with the help of Jennifer Brashears, urban forestry specialist with the WV Division of Forestry, and others from the Town of Bath including Mayor Susan Webster.  The Red Bud was tree # 68,896 for our web site monitor.
• 4/21/07 Susan Taylor and Don assisted Joe Michael, Sue Taylor, and Barb Elliott at the Soil Conservation District’s tree distribution at Dawson’s Hardware.  Susan and Don urged citizens who had purchased trees for planting to record trees they planted on our web site.
• 4/23/07 Herb and Don planted 25 Hemlocks at the Tornado site off Potter road where 400 had been planted last year to replace some of those that had died.  The Hemlocks had very good survivability along the creek, a primary headwater stream for Sleepy Creek.
•  5/2/07  Don and Herb distributed loblolly pines to 3rd graders at Warm Springs Middle and Greenwood elementary schools, and the teachers will be reporting results. Herb also distributed trees to Pleasantview and Paw Paw third graders.
• 5/5/07  SC Watershed Members, Tree Board Members, and other volunteers planted 275 trees and shrubs along Sleepy Creek for a Riparian planting on the Dawson property.
• Fall 07 another stream restoration is planned by SCWA with help of Cacapon Institute

I. MEMBERSHIP:
Members in attendance were Forester, Herb Peddicord, Norman Dean, Susan Taylor, John Webster, Don Bearden, and Joe Michael.  Herb opened the meeting with the following update and summary:

II. REVIEW OF PAST ACTIVITY & UPDATE:
Herb reported he is only able to spend one day a week at the BS Office; he is covering four counties and driving time counts in his forty hours.  So, he has been unable to hold a Board Meeting, until now, and is unable to keep up with all the demands of the tree planting initiative.  The Division of Forestry office at Berkeley Springs is scheduled to be closed this winter.

III. TREE PLANTING REPORTING AND ISSUES:
Realistically, our planting count needs to be over 100,000 trees by the end of the year.
The Board needs to gather tree planting reports including survivability and what the trees need for maintenance.   We have some tubes left but need more stakes cut from Seeley’s scrap lumber.  We also need to protect trees from weeds; to do so, Herb said we could use roundup.  John Webster explained that weeds may develop resistance to the chemical after repeated and broad applications. Weeds and grasses are a threat, How do we get the roundup?
Planters need to be reminded to use our website www.morgancountytrees.com to report, but we will need to call those who purchased from the EPCD to get their data on plantings from last year.  Don and Susan volunteered to do so and enter the data.  To date we only have 44,385 trees logged on our website.  Susan and Don plan to attend the tree distribution for the EPCD sale and attach the Board’s web site labels to the seedling packages.

• Jeff Bracken, New Page will be planting 25,000 trees.
• John Webster has Dwarf Red Buckeyes, a native tree, for planting.
• Groups and individuals that planted trees in County plots need to go back and check as to how the trees are doing and do maintenance, as needed.  Plus call and report on survivability.
• Wisner Site: Dave Griffith and Fox Glove Lynn Slater planted 25 and 15 survived or 40%
• Chestnut Grove- Herb, Norm, Don, and the Scouts planted 400 Hemlocks and the last time Herb checked 80% survived, but we need to check again.
• New Hope Road- Herb, Norm, Don, Rick Thomas planted 50, ten each of Black Oak, Hemlock, Black Cherry, Service Berry, S. Dogwood. Herb reported approx. 80% survived.  The team went back several times to water the trees, and staked and tubed about half of the trees.

IV. TREE ORDER FORMS:

V. CACAPON INSTITUTE: 
Frank Rogers represented the Institute, Work Phone 304-856-1385; Home Phone 258-7657, and reported he serves four counties and wants to set up a green house in each to grow their own seedlings in pots.
The Berkeley Springs High School site is doubtful due to school construction and the limited area.  Jim Michael proposed the Warm Springs School walking trail & wet land may be the best area.  Frank will check it out.
Frank reported he has planted 900 seedlings at several greenhouses outside the county. 
                                                           
VI. ARBOR DAY PLANTING:
April 19, noon, for the Old English Cemetery off Wisner Ave., the Ecology Coalition is sponsoring Arbor Day with the Town of Bath our Tree Board needs to be represented.  A Red Bud will be planted.
 
VI. WE NEED THE TREEMOMETER:
To be constructed out of plywood to be a fold up so that it can be placed for display to chart our progress for publicity.

VII. UPDATE THE TIME LINE:

• 1st week of May- Tree seedlings need to be handed out to the classroom teachers at the Warm Springs Intermediate School and teachers should get planting instructions to explain to the kids. Jim Michael will contact Sarah Wuertenberg at the EPCD for the instructions. Don Bearden and Susan Taylor volunteered to help herb with the Morgan County distribution.
• May 5 Sleepy Creek Watershed will do a riparian planting of 150 good size trees through a stream partner ’s grant. We should support this planting.
• Herb will send an article to the Messenger to update our progress.
• Sat and Sunday, 4/21 & 4/22, John Webster will sponsor a Tree Walk, visit anytime from 10:00 to 2:00.

Our next meeting will be Thursday, May 10 at 4:00pm.

2006 MINUTES

MEMBERSHIP
Members in attendance were Lynn Slaughter, Norman Dean, Don Bearden, David Griffiths, and Herb Peddicord.
We will be inviting a member from Warm Spring Run to discuss riparian corridor tree and shrub planting needs.
Herb opened the meeting with an update since the last meeting, and the revised time line is attached.

UPDATE
Members had positive comments about our web site-www.morgancountytrees.com.
Herb said there would be a news release next week about the site.
The first sixteen trees have been planted and logged on the site;

EMail Herb when you plant and it will be entered on the site with your planting data. The trees are recorded as planted when they are moved to a permanent site. We will use the following as a publicity marker attached to seedlings, “When you plant me count me.”

Several suggestions for the web site where, as follows:

• Native trees
• A web site for kids
• Links to tree protection ideas, foraging deer.
• Include Board members names on the site.

Copies were shown of Alma Gorse’s County assessors maps indicating acreage owned by the County, on flood planes, for riparian planting. Members will use the maps to find property boundaries and note quantity and types of trees to order for the various sites. Herb plans to order trees from the WV DF; board members and volunteer organizations will arrange to plant these sites.

Herb will be on TV to talk about the Time to Plant Tree Board; it will not be broadcast in our area, but we will be able to get a copy of the tape.

(3/1/06), Don Bearden explained a new property owner, Bob Meadows has ten acres bordering Sleepy Creek and Yellow Springs run, address 3127 Spohrs Rd. Ph.258-2075, and he may be interested in riparian planting along the creeks. Gale Foulds SCWA talked to him and proposed riparian planting grant for next year. He may also be interested in planting under the State Forestry Program.

Our next meeting will be Tues. March 14 at 6:00pm.

MEMBERSHIP
Members in attendance were Joe Michael, Susan Taylor, Ann Harkins, Norman Dean, Don Bearden, and Herb Peddicord. Several members from the publicity committee, Lynn Slaughter and Dave Griffiths were unable to attend but turned in their report for the Publicity Committee, refer to minute.
Abby Chapple has joined the Board and lined up a planting in Paw Paw, the Town Clerk will endeavor to get 170 trees planted.

Herb opened the meeting with an update, and the revised time line is attached, with a chart showing the planting plan for Morgan County’s acreage in the flood plains.

UPDATE
The DOF has assigned Herb to a new supervisor, and Herb will have a wider area to cover with his new assignment in the landowner assistance area. He will still be working with the tree planting initiative. This will take effect sometime this summer.
Still only 16 trees planted so far but planting season is here.

Keep an eye on the time line- things are happening fast.

PUBLICITY
Herb said there would be a news release next week about our web site.
Log on to the web site when you plant trees. It will show up as an E-mail to Herb.  The trees are recorded, as planted, when they are planted in a permanent site. We will use the following as a publicity marker attached to seedlings, “When you plant, me count me.” Dave Griffiths volunteered to make the publicity markers for the seedlings.
Lynn Slaughter reported that her contact with the school would be able to construct the tree planting marker, as a community display of plantings, and asked for Herb to call him and give the particulars.
Discussion centered on the Morgan Messenger publicity, but we will not be able to make the deadline for any type of insert for the project before the April 29th kickoff.  More feasible would be two pages in the Messenger. We need an article on upcoming events. Also the County Agent’s column is published every week. Lynn, Don, and Abby Chapple will be on the publicity committee.
Need volunteers for County Parcel plantings. Next meeting we will be dealing with these parcels and good attendance at the meeting is needed.

Refer to the attached spread sheet detailing, the Parcels, acreage, planting plan (trees and date), Persons in charge (P.I.C.), and volunteers. The discussion emphasized:

Our next meeting will be Tues. April 13 at 5:30pm.

TIME LINE AND EVENTS (update March 6, 2006)
Oct. 05 Establish committee assignments- CONTINUOUS
Education- Dave Griffiths, Don Bearden, Lynn Slaughter
Arbor Day- Lexa Kirk, Susan Taylor
Civic organizations & churches- Lynn Slaughter, National Assoc.of Retired Fed. Workers
Industrial & Business- Seeley Co. is a possibility
Farmers & Farm Bureau
Developers-

MEMBERSHIP
Members in attendance were Joe Michael, Susan Taylor, Norman Dean, Don Bearden, John Webster, Lexa VanDoren Kirk, Dave Griffith, and Herb Peddicord.  Jean Miller attended her first meeting as the representative from Fox Glove.  Several members from the publicity committee, Lynn Slaughter and Susan Taylor, were unable to attend but turned in their reports.

Abby Chapple has joined the Board and lined up a planting in Paw Paw, the Town Clerk will endeavor to get 170 trees planted.
Lexa will be our representative to the Bath Tree Board.

Herb opened the meeting - updated the members, revised the time line, discussed the planting chart for Morgan County's acreage in the flood plains, and added Chestnut Grove planting.  Chestnut Grove would be a replanting after Hurricane Ivan.

UPDATE
The DOF has assigned Herb to a new supervisor, and he will have a wider area to cover with a new assignment, directing the Land Owner's Forestry program.  He will continue to answer forest fires, as he did this morning at !:30 AM, in the North end of the Wildlife Management Area.

The problem with recording emails in the web site,
www.morgancountytree.com has been corrected.

Keep an eye on the time line; things are happening fast.

PUBLICITY
There was an article in the Messenger, highlight our activities, but our program needs more prominence. We need something highlighted every week, especially our need for volunteers; seedlings, for plantings may need ground preparation  and
routine care for three years.

Herb's Video- "A time to plant trees" is well done and will be available at the library and in Herb's office.

The Web site www.morgancountytrees.com has been updated- 276 trees have been planted and logged on the site; E Mail Herb when you plant and it will be entered on the site with your planting data.  The trees are recorded as planted whenever they are moved to a permanent site.  We will be able to use the following as a publicity marker attached to seedlings, "When you plant me count me."  Dave Griffiths volunteered to make the publicity
markers for the seedlings.

The TREEMOMETER, the community display, recording plantings has been constructed but needs painting.

Lexa brought a publicity can that will be distributed at sites in the town to collect information about tree plantings.  She will be assembling the cans at Herbs office this Thursday for distribution to school offices, parks, churches, markets, and other places members might recommend.

PLANTING PLANS & RESULTS
Volunteers for planting County Parcels:
480 Assorted Trees are in cold storage for County Plots.  We will need to get these into the ground soon.
Refer to spreadsheet detailing, the Parcels, acreage, planting
plan (trees and date), Persons in charge (P.I.C.), and volunteers.  The discussion emphasized:  (Repeated from last week), We may not have enough trees for all parcels, but time is short.  We have received the trees in cold storage, the ground needs prepared, and they should be planted soon.  We still need to get volunteers, refer to spreadsheet detailing planting plans.  Prospects for more volunteers, may be Future Farmers, Boy Scouts, Home School Students; Agriculture Teacher at the High School, 4-H Cindy, Retired Federal Workers. Don Bearden will be contacting Scout troops.

Chestnut Grove Plantings:
Don will meet with the Scouts to seek help with the Chestnut Grove plantings to replace trees lost in the Hurricane Ivan tornado damage of  9/17/2004. Four hundred (400) Hemlocks will be planted to stabilize the stream bank and prevent excessive erosion and sedimentation. The planting sites will be placed ten feet apart for the bare root seedlings. Hemlocks are vulnerable to loss from Hemlock Wooly Adelgid disease.  It causes foliage loss, branch dieback, and death.  The State may be able to treat it with a predatory beetle program and chemical suppression.

The New Page Company will be planting 30,000 Trees at their company site.

Paw Paw village clerk will be coordinating the planting 170 trees:

Tree Planting for Berkeley Springs as a Tree City, Thursday, April 20th at noon:  The location for the Tree City planting is at the new City Sign on Route 9, at noon for a Red Bud planting.

A 'Thank You Oak" will be presented that originated from a tree that had been given to the US from France, as a token for our help in World War II.

Third Graders Planting:
Every third grader has been given a seedling (total 250) with special instructions to the students and teachers.  Don Bearden was impressed with student motivation and teacher interest in the project.  Teachers will compile the planting information and help the students with questions.

Fire Departments:
400 trees have been distributed to fire departments and 130 have been planted.


5/6 Forestry Workshop at Cacapon State Park 9:30 - 3:45 pm:
The Eastern Panhandle Conservation District (EPCD) will be one of the sponsors.  The workshop will include speakers on soils, Appalachian Hardwoods, invasive species, and riparian buffers in the Sleepy Creek Watershed, etc..  After a lunch, provided by the EPCD, the afternoon session will be held at two planting sites on Creek Road in the watershed, 790 trees will be planted.    If you are able bring gloves, boots, shovels, and dibble bars.  The (EPCD) has orders for 11,000 seedlings which are due to be picked up

Board Member John Webster announced that he has Dwarf Red Horse Chestnuts available.

**** May 12, 2006 Update ****

Attention TPB members This will be primarily an after action review of the spring planting season and a discussion of the Ivan restoration project which will be planting 400 hemlocks along Sleepy creek on May 20th. Volunteers are needed.

We also have one more county flood plain site to plant in Sleepy Creek Village. This will be done on Tues. 16 May at 11 AM. About 30 trees will be planted. A weed wacker may be needed if anyone has one. Also bring watering buckets and digging tools. Thanks for all your help. For those who have not had a chance to do much, I have 40-50 phone calls that need to be made to up our tree count which currently is at 37,056.

Our next meeting will be Thursday, May 18 at 5:30 pm.