Activities
Each year the Board sponsors scholarships for up to two (four in 2010) local high school students to attend the Awareness Week for Forestry and Natural Resources Careers in Garrett County - Natural Resources Careers Camp A cooperative effort between the Maryland Association of Forest Conservancy District Boards and DNR Forest Service, the camp is designed to acquaint Maryland high school students with careers in forestry and natural resources management through firsthand contact with professionals in a variety of conservation career fields.
Each Year the Board sponsors and participates in Arbor Day celebrations throughout the county. Each year on Maryland Arbor Day we gave a tree tree seedling to every public school 2nd grade student, purchasing the seedlings from the State Nursery. It judges posters submitted by Washington County Fifth Grade Students for the Statewide Maryland Poster Contest of the Maryland Association of Forest Conservancy District Boards. In 2015 a Rockland Elementary School student submitted the winning poster, earning her school 15 trees.
The Board locates, nominates and measures notable trees for the Maryland Big Tree Program. We re-measure our listed Big Trees every 10 Years. See our Big Tree Page and our Big Tree Photo Page.
The Board plans, coordinates and facilitates many tree planting projects throughout the county, often working with students and schools. It also promotes awareness of the American Chestnut Foundation’s work on the restoration of the American chestnut tree, a tree that was an important member of the forest community which succumbed to a disease introduced in the early 20th century.
The Board organizes and coordinates a cooperative spray program to protect privately owned and managed forests from damage by the gypsy moth to lower the cost to the landowner.
In 2014, the Board hosted a Boy Scout forestry merit badge workshop. The Scouts spent the day learning about forestry and trees and participating in fun forest related activities.
The Board has developed and maintains outdoor education sites, including: the Arboretum at the Claud Kitchens Outdoor School at Fairviewand the Nature Trail at the Indian Springs Wildlife Management Area. In 2015 the Indian Springs Nature Trail was abandoned, and the Board worked with Greenbrier State Park to create and install interpretive signs for the park’s Green Trail.
Because human, plant, and animal communities are interrelated, the Board maintains this website in part to provide forest-related photographs, essays, fact sheets and links to related sites, and information and links on small easy projects that you can do to make our shared world a little better. Our partners include the Maryland Association of Forest Conservancy District Boards, the University of Maryland Extension Woodland Stewardship Education Program and the Soil Conservation Service of Washington County.
Boy Scouts learning the teamwork necessary for sawing a log, at the October 2014 forestry merit badge workshop.
April, 2015 Boonsboro 6th grade students plant trees in the Boonsboro Town Park.
Rockland Elementary School Fifth Grade student who won 1st prize in the statewide Maryland Arbor Day Poster Contest speaks as the students prepare to plant the 15 trees awarded to the class.
The Forestry Board and The American Chestnut Foundation cooperating on a Restoration_1 Chestnut Planting at Ford Frederick State Park
