Education programs
The Frederick County Forestry Board (FCFB) periodically offers education programs. This page contains information on past FCFB offerings as well as current and up-coming programs from the FCFB as well as other groups in our area that are interested in forestry concerns.
In 2006 and 2007 FCFB offered a series of lectures and field demonstrations for individuals wanting to become familiar with forestry practices and issues. The series extended from November 2006 to June of 2007 and was entitled Forestry 101 . The topics addressed included:
- Management Practices
- Commercial & Noncommercial Forestry
- Insects & Diseases
- Forestry Incentive Programs
- Alternative Income Opportunities
- Reforestation, Riparian Forest Buffers
- Invasive Weed Species Control
- The Role of Fire in Forestry Management
- Forest Management from the Wildlife Perspective & Forest Ecology
Gypsy Moth Workshop
More recently, November 3, 2007, the FCFB conducted a workshop at Cunningham Falls to discuss the county's gypsy moth infestation and show landowners how estimate the number of egg masses per acre in their forests. Entomologist Tom Lupp of the Maryland Department of Agriculture and Mike Kay (Frederick County Forester with the state Department of Natural Resources as well as FCFB member) were the primary speakers. The workshop resulted in the land owners banding together, designating spray blocks, and finding an applicator to the spraying in the spring. See the Gypsy moth suppression page for further details.
There will be a 2009 Gypsy Moth Informational Meeting presented by the Frederick County Forestry Board and Gypsy Moth Task Force.
Where: The Community Room at C. Burr Artz Regional Library, 110 East Patrick Street, Frederick, MD 21701
When: Thursday, December 4, 2008 from 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm
See the Spotlight section of our Home FCFB page for more details.
Natural Resources Careers Conference
Every year the members of the Education Committee of the Maryland Association of Forestry Boards start the task of planning, organizing, recruiting, and fund raising for the Natural Resources Careers Conference (NRCC). It is an arduous task that involves the 24 Maryland Forestry Boards and that takes over half the year culminating in a successful program held the last full week in July at the Hickory Environmental Education Center in Garrett County, Maryland. Why do a bunch of volunteers endure this difficult effort year after year?
The answer is simple and straightforward. Year after year, the high school students who attend the conference tell us it is a great experience. And some of those kids, inspired by a conference speaker, counselor, educator, or experience, decide to continue on in a natural resources career. Occasionally we have younger siblings participate in NRCC because the parents remember us from previous years. But for as far back as I can remember, this July was the first time that a former camper's child also attended NRCC, though the program's name has evolved over the years and was called by other titles.
Read below the truly wonderful story by Melanie Cooper about her husband Mike Cooper, the father who attended "Camp Hickory" back in 1984 and who is now working with the Natural Resources Police, and whose son Ryan enjoyed NRCC in 2008.
Michael ("Mike") Cooper attended Forestry Camp at Hickory Outdoor Educational Center the summer of 1984 continued his interest in the field and became a Maryland State Park Ranger in 1990
in 2005, transferred to NRP when Maryland combined 2 law enforcement branches of DNR to make one law enforcement branch
Mike's family all enjoyed being in the outdoors - hiking, fishing, hunting, etc. On a family trip to the Grand Canyon, at age 9, Mike talked to a National Park Ranger and distinctly remembers thinking to himself, "That's what I want to do when I grow up."
In ninth grade, Mike took a Forestry and Wildlife Class at Middletown High School, Middletown, MD (Frederick County). At age 16, he got his first job doing summer maintenance at Gambrill State Park - also Frederick County. He worked for 2 years as a Seasonal Ranger and a Seasonal Technician. Gambrill State Park had 3 offices including a Park Office, a Forestry Office, and a Wildlife Office. During his employment at Gambrill the Forestry Project Manager, Rick Lillard, gave Mike information about the Forestry Camp at Hickory. He applied and when accepted came to Hickory in the summer of 1984.
Mike attended Frederick Community College and received an AA Degree in Parks and Wildlife Management. During that time, the "parks" group visited many state parks - two of which were Herrington Manor and Swallow Falls State Parks in Garrett County. Mike loved the area and again thought to himself that he would really like to work there someday.
Working his way up the ladder, Mike started working full-time as Park Technician at Gunpowder Falls State Park (Baltimore County). In Spring 1990, Mike took the "ranger's test" where 1,400 applicants applied for 7 ranger positions in the state. Due to his education, his abundant experience in the parks, and meeting many people in upper management, Mike was offered one of the 7 positions as a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Park Ranger. After four months of police academy and 1 month of ranger school, he was assigned at none other than....Herrington Manor and Swallow Falls State Parks - his "dream job." Mike remained a Park Ranger until May 2005 when he transferred to Natural Resources Police (NRP) - during the combination of agencies noted above.
One of the most rewarding things about his job is the wide variety of tasks. Mike cannot recall a single day that he has dreaded going to work.
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Below are two letters from the two Frederick County participants, Sarah Delise of Middletown High School and Ashley Smith of Catoctin High School, relating their impressions of the conference and expressing their appreciation for be selected to attend.
Dear Ms. Marquess and the Frederick County Forestry Board,
I would like to thank you for the wonderful experience I had at this year's Natural Resources Careers Conference.
I went into the week-long conference with my interest in the natural world and prepared to learn all that I could. It was great to be able to spend time with so many people who shared my common interest and to be able to learn with them as well as learn from them.
My favorite part of this experience was tree identification and tree care. It was such a great help to be able to learn tree identification tips from the Allegany students. (My favorite tip was that the bark on a black cherry tree looks like burnt cornflakes!)
I couldn't wait until I could get home to practice my new interest in dendrology. Not only have I learned a lot more about trees in the past few weeks than I ever thought I would, I also learned a little something about people...For instance, some neighbors are not always too pleased when you stand in front of their house admiring the trees they have in their yard!! But in all seriousness, this experience has really allowed for me to start exploring different areas of interest in natural resources.
Other highlights of my NRCC experience would include the tree climbing with the Bartlett Tree company, visiting New Page paper company and being able to listen to all of the wonderful speakers and guests.
The "College Night" proved to be a wonderful opportunity for me to talk with representatives from Virginia Tech, Frostburg and Allegany College. Although at the moment I am not entirely sure of which college I would like to attend or exactly what division of natural resources I would like to pursue, I know that I will be happy with whatever I choose to study. It is just a matter of me looking more into what colleges have to offer in, along the line of, what I am presently considering, forestry.
I wanted to take the time to thank you for providing me with my wonderful NRCC experience! I can truly say that it was one of the most rewarding and educational experiences I have ever had. I will be sure to promote it within my school and community and throughout the county, as I hope that other students will be able to enjoy this program in the future!
Also, on a side note, I would be interested in any volunteer opportunities as well and I will check the new website regularly!
Thanks,
Sarah Delise
Dear Ms. Marquess and the Forestry Board,
I greatly appreciate being able to have gone to this year’s Natural Resource Careers Conference. It was a wonderful experience to have had, so thank you.
Going to this camp I had an idea that I wanted to go into the Natural Resources field. I was prepared to have every day packed full of learning and lots of activities with people that shared a common interest with me.
The whole summer I was looking forward to going to this camp my Forestry and Wildlife Management teacher had prepared me with some prior knowledge about management and forestry, I also was a part of our county’s envirothon.
Throughout the week my knowledge of different topics in Natural Resources was tested. Some activities I participated in were: several discussions and activities with different members of the DNR, tree identification, electro fishing, fire safety, career night, college night, scales n’ tales, GPS, tree measuring, visiting a sawmill and paper mill, spending a day at Deep Creek Lake, nocturnal sounds, tree climbing, and making a management plan.
Out of the entire week long experience my favorite activities were going to Deep Creek Lake even though it rained it was still fun and climbing and tree; which is something I have to say I probably would have never done if weren’t for me getting the experience coming to this camp.
The students from Allegany College were great group mentors/leaders. I learned many things from my time spent with them every day. My group and leader grew very close knit as others could tell we got along very well. By the end of the week I didn’t want to leave them. They were my new family; I had made friends that I think will be hard to replace. Marie was my group leader and I felt I could talk to her about everything; we talked about college, natural resources, envirothon, and FFA.
One of my favorite speakers at NRCC was Kevin Dodge’s Nocturnal Sounds. I honestly thought that a person could seriously not make sounds like he did. Everything was so realistic and he added humor into everything.
College Night was a great experience. Being a junior in high school I’ve been looking at colleges and this was a great opportunity for me to look around and see what colleges I was interested in. Although I’m not quiet sure what I want to major in or what college I exactly want to go to it was a good opportunity.
Thank you so much for providing me with this opportunity to go to NRCC. It has been one of the most rewarding experiencesI’ve had yet. I will gladly promote this camp I think it is the best one out there and there are so many people that should get to experience what I did.
I will check the new website regularly. Thank you again!
Sincerely,
Ashley Smith
NRCC 2008 Photo Gallery
The following photos feature Ashley Smith (Catoctin High) and Sarah Delise (Middletown High) who were the two Frederick County participants supported by the Frederick County Forestry Board. Both the Frederick participants enjoyed the learning experience and representedour county well with Sarah being selected by the CurriculumDirector and his 7 counselors as one of two Outstanding Student(s) of the Week.
Ashley Smith (right) from Catoctin HS and Veronica (left) practice proper technique sawing a log with a 2-person saw.
Ashley uses a Biltmore stick to estimate the number of logs in the tree for a timber harvest.
Participants learn about hydrology and fish shocking at the Casselman River.
Sarah Delise from Middletown HS helps to plant a tree.
Mark Spurrier performs his Scales N' Tales talk with an audience favorite - a bald eagle.
Ashley awaits her turn to climb a large white oak.
Sarah talks with her group and group counselor at NRCC.
Sarah talks with a Virginia Tech college professor about forestry during College Night.
To view photos of the activities from a past careers conference download the following Power Point slide show.
Maryland Woodland Stewards
The annual training workshop for the Maryland Woodland Stewards project(formerly the Coverts Project) was held on October 9, 10, 11 and 12, 2008 at Camp Pecometh in Centreville, MD. University of Maryland Cooperative Extension. The Maryland Woodland Stewards Project is an educational program of the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension and the National Wild Turkey Federation. It teaches sound forest and wildlife management practices and in return, participants apply these principles to their own property and actively encourage others to practice good forest stewardship using the concepts “education through demonstration” and “neighbor helping neighbor.” All program information, applications, and other materials are available on-line at: www.naturalresources.umd.edu
For more information please contact Nevin Dawson at 410‐827‐8056 ext. 125 or by email at: ndawson@umd.edu
