Branching Out is a free quarterly newsletter published
by Maryland Cooperative Extension
to provide current information to forest landowners, natural resource
professionals, and the public. The newsletter has a simple 4-page
format that provides an in-depth story on a selected topics, along
with a calendar of events, information on new resources, and short
stories of upcoming educational programs.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In the Fall 2005 issue, an article
entitled, "Advice to Hunters Concerning Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD),"
misstates that the disease was found in Pennsylvania. Chronic Wasting
Disease HAS NOT been found in Pennsylvania. We apologize for the error
and will print a retraction in the Winter 2006 issue.
To view the Summer 2006 issue of Branching Out
in pdf/printable format, click
here.
Branching Out Goes From Hard Copy to Online
The Branching Out newsletter has been a mainstay of the natural
resource Extension program since 1991. It is currently being sent
out to 5,500 landowners and resource professionals four times a
year without cost to its recipients. Unfortunately, funding of this
service cannot be maintained while sustaining other important programs.
We believe that Branching Out is such a valuable resource that while
we can no longer send out free copies of the newsletter by mail,
we will continue to offer each issue online, free of charge. There
are three ways for you to continue enjoying the Branching Out newsletter:
Sign up for the Branching Out listserv to receive notices when a
new issue has been posted online. Send an e-mail message to listserv@listserv.umd.edu.
In the body of the message, type “SUB branchingout your name”
(without the quotation marks), replacing your first and last name
in place of “your name.” The name you type in will be
the name that appears on our list of members. Neither your e-mail
nor your name will be available to any other listserv member. Your
personal information will be used solely for sending out reminders
for the Branching Out newsletter and related educational programs,
and will not be shared with others. The University has strict guidelines
for confidentiality that protects your privacy. For more information
about listservs, go to
www.helpdesk.umd.edu/documentation/other/listserv.shtml#5.
Go to our website www.naturalresources.umd.edu/BranchingOut.cfm
to access the current and past issues of the newsletter.
Receive a hard copy. If you would like to continue receiving the
newsletter as a hard copy, we can send you copies by mail for an
annual subscription fee of $10 per year. Send a check payable to
University of Maryland and your name and address to: Branching Out
Newsletter, 18330 Keedysville Road, Keedysville, MD 21756-1104
We hope that this new method of communication will allow us to meet
the needs of more forest landowners, giving you the information
and service you need to reach your forest stewardship goals.
Maryland State Forestry Turns 100!
This year, Maryland Forests and Parks celebrates its centennial. In
1906, philanthropist brothers John and Robert Garrett challenged the
state to establish a forestry program by donating nearly 2000 tree-stripped
acres of land in Garrett County to the state on the condition that
the state establish the governmental machinery to promote wise use
of forest resources. At that time, Maryland’s tree cover had
been reduced from nearly 90 percent of its land surface when the first
colonists arrived to a paltry 35 percent. Maryland was running out
of wood, losing wildlife habitat, suffering the ravages of erosion
and stream siltation, and being scourged by unchecked forest fires.
The state legislature responded with Maryland’s first forestry
law, making Maryland the third state to establish a statewide forestry
program. The law established a Board of Forestry, made up of influential
Marylanders, to oversee the management of the Garrett bequest, to
institute a statewide program of forest conservation, to accept
additional land donations, and to hire a state forester. The governor
appointed an able young forester working for the U.S. Forest Service,
Fred W. Besley, who would serve as Maryland’s first State
Forester from 1906 until 1942. A Yale School of Forestry trained
protégé of Gifford Pinchot, first U.S. Forester, Besley
proved to be an able and energetic choice.
Besley realized that one good way to promote the forestry agenda
was to encourage the public to use forest reserves for recreational
purposes. When, in 1907, John Glenn, a resident of Catonsville,
donated the beginnings of another forest reserve along the Patapsco
River near Baltimore, Besley saw the opportunity to entice Baltimore
area residents to come recreate in the great out-of-doors, and by
1910 was informally calling the Patapsco Forest Reserve “Patapsco
Park.” By 1912, Besley had developed a small recreation area
along the river, and by the middle of the decade, people were flocking
out of Baltimore to picnic, swim, and camp at the “park.”
Now a 14,000 acre, 32 mile long stretch of public land, Patapsco
Valley State Park hosts over a half million visitors a year. Besides
establishing additional forest reserves and parks, Fred W. Besley
taught forestry practices at the University of Maryland and established
the first state tree nursery there. He also traveled, in his words,
“every cow path in Maryland” producing a comprehensive
inventory of all tree stands in the state that exceeded 5 acres.
He and his small staff provided advice to wood lot owners on how
best to manage their forest resources, and created a roadside tree
program to beautify Maryland’s growing network of public highways.
Most significantly, Besley created a staff of over 300 volunteer
forest wardens, along with a network of more than 40 fire towers,
across the state to reduce the incidence of forest fires. After
the legislature started providing money for forest reserve acquisition,
Besley purchased historic Fort Frederick, a relic of the French
and Indian War (1756-1763), which, like Patapsco, was informally
known as a park. He thus earned the gratitude of people who wanted
the ruined fort preserved in the public interest.
The Great Depression of the 1930s, as devastating as it was to the
nation as a whole, proved a boon to forest and park development.
One of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs
was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which, in Maryland, put
30,000 young unemployed men to work reclaiming forest and other
natural resources, building recreational facilities, and restoring
historic structures on public lands. Most of the recreational facilities
that the CCC built in Maryland forests and parks are in use today.
Besley later stated that all the good works of the CCC set Maryland’s
forests and parks ahead by 20 years.
Today, Maryland's system of state forests and parks includes over
300,000 acres of public land. Eleven million visitors come to these
areas each year, contributing over $300 million dollars to the state’s
economy. There is a state forest or park within 20 miles of every
state resident. Both Marylanders and visitors to the “Old
Line State” enjoy a precious outdoor resource thanks to the
farsightedness of Fred Besley and the many other dedicated forest
and park professionals over the past century.
Excerpts from www.dnr.state.md.us/centennial/forestry_and_parks.asp
CWD Update
From L. Douglas Hotton, Deer Project Leader, Maryland DNR, Wildlife
Division
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a naturally occurring fatal disease
of the brain and nervous system in deer, elk, and other cervids.
CWD belongs to the family of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
(TSE) that attack the brain of deer and elk, producing small lesions
that eventually result in death. CWD has not been found in Maryland
and has not been shown to be transmissible to humans.
CWD, once thought to be a disease of deer and elk in the western
states and provinces, is now found east of the Mississippi River
in Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, and West Virginia. CWD is found
in captive and free ranging deer in Wisconsin and New York. It is
limited to free ranging deer in Illinois and West Virginia. Currently,
CWD is confined to Hampshire County in West Virginia and Oneida
and Madison Counties in New York.
Maryland hunters that take a deer in West Virginia (Hampshire County)
or New York (Oneida County or Madison County) this coming hunting
season will not be able to bring the entire deer carcass back into
Maryland. Only the meat without the backbone, cleaned hide and cape,
antlers, cleaned skull plate with attached antlers, tanned hide
or taxidermy mount may be brought from these locations into Maryland.
The restricted deer carcass parts (brain, spinal column, lymph glands,
etc.) contain the highest risk for spreading CWD into Maryland.
Many states take brain and lymph gland samples of harvested deer
in order to test for the presence of CWD in free ranging deer. Any
Maryland resident that bags a deer or elk out-of-state and is later
notified that the animal tested positive for CWD, must contact the
Maryland Department of Natural Resources within 24 hours by phoning
410-713-3851, faxing 410-341-7952, or e-mailing dhotton@dnr.state.md.us
For additional information, visit the Maryland DNR website at www.dnr.state.md.us
or the CWD Alliance website at www.cwd-info.org.
University of Maryland Celebrates a Milestone
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Maryland Agricultural
College, which later expanded and, in 1920, became known as the University
of Maryland.
University of Maryland College Park is one of two land grant universities,
the other being UM Eastern Shore. Land grant schools are the result
of the Morrill Act, which was passed by Congress in 1862. Congress
soon realized that to be effective, the educational function of
land-grant universities needed to be supplemented with research
capabilities. The Hatch Act was passed in 1887 to provide for the
establishment of research farms where universities could conduct
research into agricultural, mechanical, and related problems faced
by rural citizens.
In 1914, Congress passed the Smith Lever Act. This act provided
for the establishment of the Cooperative Extension Service. As a
result, there are now Extension offices in every Maryland county
and Baltimore city that serve to "extend" information
which has been developed on campus and research stations across
the state. Your local Extension center is a branch office of the
University of Maryland and Extension agents are considered university
faculty, since their role is educational.
From www.dnr.state.md.us/centennial/forestryeducation.asp.
Visit Your State Parks
Did you know that there are 50 state parks, forests, and natural areas
in Maryland? Plan to visit at least one new park this summer! Visit
the state park website for maps and locations: www.dnr.state.md.us/mdmap.html.
Maryland Covert Volunteer Training in September
The Maryland Coverts Project will hold its annual training seminar
September 21-24 in Washington County for 30 individuals interested
in forest wildlife management for large or small properties. A “covert”
(kuh' vert) is an old English word that refers to a thicket for wildlife
habitat. It is an appropriate name for this program that has been
reaching out to Maryland’s individual woodland owners since
1990, teaching individuals about how forest stewardship can improve
wildlife habitat and other forest benefits. Whether your interest
is turkey, deer, songbirds or other wildlife and plants, learning
how to create and manage “coverts” can bring great satisfaction.
The three and a half day training resembles a forest and wildlife
short course, and includes classroom instruction on management practices
for wildlife and forest health, as well as outdoor demonstrations.
Using concepts of “neighbor helping neighbor” and “education
through demonstration,” participants use case studies and
other materials to learn how to help other landowners reach their
goals.
The cost for the training is only $50, a bargain by any measure. In
return for the training, participants, known as “Covert Cooperators,”
agree to spend 40 hours over the next year in ways they feel they
can be effective, develop or improve a forest stewardship plan for
their property, and make an active effort to advocate sound forest
and wildlife management in their communities.
If you are interested in attending the Maryland Coverts Training workshop,
or know someone you would like to nominate for the program, please
contact Elli Hammond at heh@umd.edu, or (301)432-2767 ext. 338. All
program information, applications and other materials are available
online at: www.naturalresources.umd.edu. Applications are due by June 30 and those selected will
be notified in July.
Tree Farm Inspections May Change
From Howard Anderson, President of Maryland Tree Farm System
The success of our Tree Farm program and farm reinspections in Maryland
is largely the result of the dedication of our State Foresters with
the help of many of our members. Nationally, every Tree Farm is
inspected every 5 years - a 20% yearly inspection rate. By nationally
stratifying properties into acreage categories, required reinspections
would drop from approximately 8,000 in 2006 to 1,180, still resulting
in 95% accuracy. This year, Maryland will continue the current 20%
inspection program, in addition to the random statistical sampling,
which will be the only required inspections in 2007. Future updates
will be provided.
ATFS Eastern Region Meeting
The eastern regional meeting of the American Tree Farm System will
be held in Pocomoke City at the Bonanza, 1621 Ocean Highway. The program
includes greetings from our State Forester; the Stoltzfus Tree Farm
presented by Senator Lowell Stoltzfus; a presentation by Dan Rider
on alternative forestry as a source of renewable energy and alternative
forestry products; “Ensuring the Future of Your Legacy Estate
Planning” by Clint Bentz, CPA; and a tour of the Laws Tree Farm
to see success with prescribed burns and enhanced growth with use
of biosolids. Contact Billy Laws for details, (410) 632-0305.
New Site for ATFS Inspectors
There is a new page on the American Tree Farm System website for inspectors
and anyone interested in becoming an inspector. Find it under the
"Tree Farm in Your State" section of the website, www.treefarmsystem.org.
In addition to inspector awards and nomination forms, the page contains
links to the online refresher training, information on inspector qualifications,
and the ATFS Standards.
Rural Enterprise Info and Budgets
Have you ever thought about starting your own business - maybe opening
a Bed & Breakfast or allowing fee fishing in your pond? The Rural
Enterprise Series published by Maryland Cooperative Extension provides
facts and guidance about several possible businesses, as well as budgets
in working Excel files that you can alter to figure out your own costs
and profits. Check them out at www.naturalresources.umd.edu/Publications.cfm.
New Publication for Forest Owners
A new publication for owners of 1-10 acres of forestland will be coming
out later this summer. The book includes a workbook which guides readers
through creating and employing a plan for their land. Check www.naturalresources.umd.edu
for details and the latest information.
Published four times a year and distributed to forest landowners,
resource professionals, and other interested in forest stewardship.
Issues are posted online at www.naturalresources.umd.edu/BranchingOut.cfm.
To sign up for online updates, e-mail listserv@listserv.umd.edu.
In the body of the message, type SUB branchingout your name (ex: SUB
branchingout John Doe). For a hardcopy subscription ($10 per year
- make checks payable to University of Maryland) or to send news items,
e-mail cmason@umd.edu; call 301-432-2767x338;
or write
Branching Out
Maryland Cooperative Extension
18330 Keedysville Road
Keedysville, MD 21756-1104.
The sponsoring agencies' programs are open to all citizens without
regard to race, color, gender, disability, religion, age, sexual orientation,
marital or parental status, or national origin.
Educational Programs
Besides
establishing additional forest reserves and parks, Fred W. Besley
taught forestry practices at the University of Maryland and established
the first state tree nursery there. He also traveled, in his words,
“every cow path in Maryland” producing a comprehensive
inventory of all tree stands in the state that exceeded 5 acres. 
