Vol. 17 • No. 4 October 2017 Wyman Park’s Big Trees: Finding the Notable Ones by Ray Iturralde Since May this year, your Baltimore City mere 16”, a height of only 14’ and a Forestry Board has been having fun spread of 16’ is our city’s current champ hunting down and measuring Big Trees in for the species with 36 total points. parks and on private properties, where permitted. We have succeeded in getting New Champion Trees 22 city trees designated as State or City According to Frederic Chalfant of champions for their species. Other trees TreeKeepers, 2017 has been a great year are deemed ’Notable’ for being unusual, for big trees in Baltimore, with 22 new exemplary, or having historical champions, including seven new state significance. Check out Baltimore City’s champions. There are three in Wyman Notable Tree Map on the TreeBaltimore Park. The table below shows their website (www.treebaltimore.org). We dimensions and the GPS coordinates are hope this article will get you interested in provided to help you locate them. Big Trees. The Tulip Poplar is located in The Maryland Big Tree Program Wyman Park just downhill from (MBTP) is associated with the Tudor Arms and 37th Street. This Department of Natural Resources Forest very impressive tree has grown well Service (DNR), which provides in these quiet woods. It is tied with technical assistance when needed. the current Baltimore City Champion MBTP, a totally volunteer program, is in points. sponsored by the Maryland Association The Tulip Poplar is located in of Forest Conservancy District Boards, Wyman Park just downhill from which provides major policy guidance. Ashley Costello photo by Tudor Arms and 37th Street. This Trees that are nominated are measured Ray stands next to the Sugar Maple. very impressive tree has grown well and rated on a competitive points system. in these quiet woods. It is tied with the State Champ is the highest rating followed by City, and finally current Baltimore City Champion in points. Notable designations. Points are calculated using this The Paper Mulberry is also located in Wyman Park Maryland Big Tree Points formula: Height (feet) + downhill from Tudor Arms and 37th Street, next to a storm Circumference at Chest Height (inches) + 1/4 Maximum water culvert, close to Stony Run and south of JHU’s STSI Crown Spread. See mdbigtrees.com for details on measuring. building. It is considered an invasive species and you have to Some species don’t really have to be big to be champs. For admire the tenacity of this tree. (continued on next page) instance, a live oak in Bolton Hill, with a circumference of a Tree Circumference Spread Height Points GPS coord. Mark your Calendars! Tulip 20’ 2” or 109’ 103’ 372 39.33314N WPCA General Membership Meeting Poplar 242” 76.62537W TUESDAY, October 3rd at 7p.m. Paper 8’ 10” or 106” 73.5’ 68’ 192 39.33277N Keswick Multi-Care Center, OCT. Mulberry 76.62472W 700 W. 40th St. 3 • MOU Update Sugar 12’ 8” or 152” 76’ 68’ 239 39.33634N • WPCA Elections Maple 76.62605W • Guest: Ryan Dorsey, Complete Streets Initiative Discussion Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wpca-md 1 www.wymanparkcommunity.org Vol. 17 • No. 4 October 2017 Trees (cont. from p.1) One of our local tree stewards tried to kill this tree years ago President’s Message by girdling, which is the process of removing a few inches of the bark and cambrian layer in a circle. This deprives the tree Greetings Neighbors! of water and nourishment. This tough tree overcame that and healed the wound. It has massive roots which constantly give It’s hard to believe that my year as president of the WPCA it nourishment from the moist soil around. has gone by so quickly. During this 12-month period, a lot The Sugar maple is not in the park proper. Would you believe has been accomplished. Calm has returned to a part of the it is located in the back courtyard of Wyman Park Apartments? neighborhood where a residence was the site of drug As it is on private property, I had to ask the manager to sign a dealing and other criminal activities. Stony Run and DNR permission form in order to nominate it. It is a Notable Wyman Park have begun to return to a more natural state tree, second in points to the current City Champion located at thanks to the efforts of many volunteers. Traffic and Cylburn Arboretum. Unfortunately, the one in Cylburn is not pedestrian safety challenges were brought to the attention healthy and only has a couple of years left. This Wyman Park to the City's Transportation Department and a plan has tree would then become the city champion. been put together to slow down traffic. The neighborhood came together to inform City officials on what could be Champions Wanted better regarding the location of one of the first medical “Do you know a tree that has what it takes to be a champion?” marijuana dispensaries in the City. And there have been TreeKeepers Chalfant asks. “There are over 150 recognized fewer individuals using Stony Run as temporary lodging species that are in need of a city champion. We at TreeKeepers this year compared to recent years. challenge you to find a big notable tree.” At the Maryland Big Tree website (mdbigtrees.com) you All of this has been accomplished because neighbors have will find some of the more common trees without champions stepped up, talked things through, and worked together to listed, along with what it takes in points for a tree to achieve maintain our quality of life. That's what makes our champion status. If you stumble on or know of a big tree, neighborhood unique--we all share the same vision of look up the species on the Big Tree website to see what the making Wyman Park a more livable neighbor-hood. If I am champions and notables are. You will then know if it is re-elected as your resident, I will look for-ward to another worth pursuing a nomination. year of continuing that journey with you! For information on how to register a Big Tree, contact John Bennett at [email protected]. Those species in need of a city champion can be found at the Big Trees website (mdbigtrees.com). The two lists, New Champion Trees and Champions Jack Boso Wanted, were omitted here for space reasons are posted on WPCA President WPCA website. Ray Iturralde is a member of the Baltimore City Forestry Board Stony Run Restoration On September 7th, WPCA hosted a meeting where DPW representatives conducted a briefing about this upcoming restoration project. Here are highlights from that meeting. Note that the City will gain credits toward environmental protection goals by completing this project. • Construction is expected to start in late October. • The work will start at the pedestrian bridge south of University Parkway and continue to where the stream goes into a culvert just south of Wyman Park Drive. • Part of the stream restoration is related to maintaining the health of the Chesapeake Bay as this area is in the Bay's watershed (approx. 3.3 square miles). • this is a high flash area with lots of erosion. • The project will include: wetland establishment, bank support, planting of native plants, invasive species removal. • There will be relocation of the trail to avoid steep inclines. • Some remediation from the past restoration project will be included in this project. • There will be access roads, some of which are on JHU property, and are scheduled to be removed after the project is done. • Restoration will be monitored after completion. Discussion Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wpca-md 2 www.wymanparkcommunity.org Vol. 17 • No. 4 October 2017 Inviting Bats to Wyman Park by Leah Rossman Earlier this year, some local dog lovers were given $200 by Joanne Garrett, owner of Good Doggie Daycare on 29th Street in Remington. This unsolicited gift was given in appreciation for their assistance in helping to find and recover a lost dog. After voting how this generous gift could best be used, it was decided that the addition of a bat house would be an invaluable asset to the entire community. On the evening of July 9th a group of friends, self-proclaimed dog-fanciers, and a few canines from Wyman Park (or adjoining neighborhoods) gathered in our park to install a state-of-the art bat-house. The four-chamber, weatherproof dwelling can house up to 140 nocturnal, flying mammals. Using guidance from Bat Conservation and Management Inc, an ideal location was selected just south of University Parkway, on the east side of the Stony Run walking path. This site was chosen because it has the appropriate access to water, forest cover and amount of sun exposure for the bats. According to DNR, Maryland is home to ten species of bats, all of which eat insects (mosquitoes, stinkbugs, moths, and more). (http://dnr.maryland.gov) Encouraging bats to live in our area is an excellent and natural way to keep insect populations under control. It can take up to two years for migratory bats to accept a new location as “safe.” Thank you to WPCA, Friends of Stony Run, Good Doggie Daycare’s Barbara Jones, and Fran Spero of BCPR for all your assistance with this project. Please feel free to swing by anytime and take a peak to see if any new friends have moved in. We hope new residents will be there in late Spring 2018.