A Tree-umphant Spring for Restoration

Even during a quarantine, WSA and our partners were able to bundle and distribute 3,000 tree seedlings to county residents through our Backyard Buffer program. Each spring, WSA serves as Anne Arundel County’s coordinator for Maryland Department of Natural Resource’s Backyard Buffer initiative, providing homeowners with free trees and shrubs to create a native woodland buffer.

Typically, WSA relies on volunteers to help bundle buffers and holds an in person workshop to demonstrate proper planting and maintenance techniques. This year, Josh and Alyssa, WSA’s restoration team, worked tirelessly to sort and bundle our Backyard Buffers while practicing social distancing. With the help of AACPS, WSA was able to distribute over 100 bundles to county residents who will plant the seedlings throughout the county to mitigate stormwater. Participants can view webinars to determine how to best plant and care for their new additions, from determining where to plant to how to protect the seedlings from deer.

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Buffer Bundles contained the three staples of the Backyard Buffer Program: bundles of large trees for wet areas, bundles of large trees for dry areas and a bundle of shrubs. This year, we also added a bundle of smaller, understory trees to the mix, so County residents had a wide selection to choose from. If you are interested in our Backyard Buffer Program, or have questions, contact Alyssa directly at cont-abrummitt@aacps.org.

2020 is the year of trees for WSA. We have rolled our Backyard Buffer program into our new Replant Anne Arundel initiative. In February, we announced our plans to plant over 4,000 trees and engage over 800 residents throughout the county by training Tree Troopers, the volunteer leaders of Replant Anne Arundel’s planting efforts. Despite COVID-19, we are planning to achieving our goal, thanks to dedicated staff and volunteers. Unfortunately our first intensive 8-hour training session, originally planned for March, was postponed. Our restoration team has been hard at work to transition much of the training online, and are excited to start training Tree Troopers on May 14th through a series of webinars, culminating in an in-person meeting to plant trees (after shelter-in-place is lifted).

So far, 70 volunteers have applied to become Tree Troopers. There is still a little bit of room left for this training, so if you are interested, apply here. If you have questions about the training or the Replant Anne Arundel Program, contact Alyssa at cont-abrummitt@aacps.org.

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Planting photos above courtesy of Janine Wilkin.

WSA's Class in the Time of Coronavirus

WSA’s Restoration Coordinator, Josh Clark, conducts virtual demonstrations on restoration and maintenance techniques for Class 12.

The last two months of WSA’s Certification Course have been unlike anything we’ve experienced in our 11 years. Over the past weeks, our 32 Steward Candidates have learned through webinars, participating remotely in lessons about caring for RainScaping projects, spring maintenance and invasive plants, and collaborated virtually to plan action for clean water. Our program staff and environmental partners have been hard at work creating videos and reference materials on topics which would have been covered at Class 12’s in person field sessions.  Later this month, the Steward Candidates will tackle Permitting and the Critical Area. 

With schools closed, our Environmental Literacy Stewards have a unique obstacle in planning and implementing their capstone projects. In the past, our Steward Candidates have taught students about recycling, reducing, and reusing in the classroom, and provided hands-on lessons at local restoration projects, guiding students through planting and maintenance activities. This year, as ELit Stewards continue to develop their lesson plans in hopes that they’ll be able to deliver some programs in the Fall, they’re also working on creating materials that will join WSA’s archive of resources for kids.  Liz Argo-Wilbanks is exploring how to turn her lessons on mindfulness in nature into family-friendly videos; Emily Rybiki, Mackenzie Bodman, and Maggie Hughes are working on an activity booklet for kids that will complement the outreach they’re planning to do at Spa Creek Conservancy’s Kids on the Creek.

Even with stay at home orders, our RainScaping Stewards are working hard to plan their capstone installations and community outreach for the Summer and Fall after restrictions are lifted. This year, Rainscaping Steward Candidates are planting conservation landscapes, rehabbing bioretentions, and participating in our Replant Anne Arundel Program. It will be a busy, impactful Fall indeed. 

Despite social distancing, our Steward Candidates came together (virtually!) to deliver their Community Presentations and give each other feedback. These presentations are a key part of the Certification Course, and include community concerns, an environmental assessment, a proposed capstone project, outreach methods, and a community vision. You can check out the presentations here.

Moving a large portion of our class content online has presented some unique issues, but we are taking the opportunity to determine how we can deliver more virtual content to our Stewards in the future. Stay tuned for updates!

Community Presentations from Environmental Literacy Steward Candidates

My Social Distancing Storytelling Stick

By Nan Henry

This is the story of my storytelling stick.  Each item tied to the stick reminds me of my afternoon walk.  The items I have selected may not make sense to you yet. But as I recount the details of my walk, you’ll understand why each item on my storytelling stick represents something special I saw this afternoon.

The blue and white beads tied to the top of the stick remind me that the sky was blue with just the occasional cloud.

Next, I’ve tied on a rock.  My street is having its water pipes replaced and the road has been torn up.  There are many temporary patches. This rock was from one of those patches.

It was very windy.  The feather reminds me of how things were flying around in the wind.

A Redbud twig with its beautiful bright pink buds can only mean that it’s spring!

A lot of people were out walking their dogs.  In my neighborhood, pet owners are very good about picking up pet waste.  That is represented by the little bit of plastic bag.

On a sunny afternoon, many parents were out with their children getting fresh air or exercise, enjoying the afternoon while keeping their distance from other families.  The locust bean pod shakes like a rattle and reminds me of those children.  

The last memento is mulch from the now-empty playground by the school.  People are playing in the field or bicycling on the path, but not touching play equipment others might have touched.  

This stick is now like a pictorial journal.  If I had collected the items and not looked at them for weeks, I might have forgotten what they represent.  But I have shared my story with you soon after the walk and told you all about my storytelling stick. Because I revisited the memory and described all the different objects, in a week or two, I will still recall what each of these objects signifies.  I will still be able to tell you and others about my afternoon walk during a time of social distancing.

So that is my memory from today’s walk through my neighborhood.  I collected items and arranged them on a storytelling stick to prompt my recollection of my afternoon stroll.  Perhaps you could use those events and weave them into a tale of fiction. Once upon a time . . . . 

Acorn Hide and Seek

Written by Noelle Chao, Program Coordinator for WSA

On Wednesday, my family decided to do a nature walk at Greenbury Point in Annapolis.  We played Acorn Hide and Seek while we were there.  My eight-year-old son Nolan loved it!

There wasn’t time to hunt for acorns before we set out, so we grabbed some rocks from the gravel path at our house and used those as our acorns.  Right away, Nolan was concerned that he would forget where he had hidden them.  So, he made the decision to hide his acorns in plain sight, right on the road next to the trailhead!  (This was a moment when my husband and I both had to take a step back and let him do the activity the way he wanted to do it.)

While we were on the hike, we talked about how we should be moving and behaving since we were squirrels, not humans.  What should we do differently?  Here's what Nolan said:

No technology!  Squirrels don't have iPhones!  (I had to get special permission to take mine out for photos.)

Work hard to blend into the environment.

Be on the lookout for predators and more food.

When we saw on osprey flying over the bay, we hid next to a tree.  Our squirrel family enjoyed beautiful views of the Bay.  We also wondered whether our acorns would still be there when we got back.  Nolan was a little concerned that someone else may have gotten to them... But when we got back, all of them were still there!  Success!

Later we asked Nolan . . .

How did it feel to be a squirrel?  “Just like how it feels to be a human!”

What skills do squirrels need to survive?  “Fastness, bravery, and skill. They should also have a good memory.”

What was your favorite part of the hike? “Seeing the osprey.”

Greenbury Point is a great local hike for families.  Just make sure you check their Twitter feed before you go, to make sure that the trail is opened.

And to keep kids happy and safe on a trail, remember to

Wear a hat and use sunscreen.

Bring water and a yummy snack.  No one has fun hiking when they’re hangry!

Be on the lookout for ticks.  To avoid them, stay in the center of the trail and avoid walking in tall brush.

Finally, a little background on my family and the great outdoors . . . my husband and I have been taking our son Nolan on hikes and nature walks since he was a baby.  Over the years, Nolan has transitioned from being carried, to riding in a metal-framed backpack carrier, to hiking 10-miles in the backcountry of a National Park.  This has taken a lot of persistence on our part, since if you ask Nolan, he would say that he hates being outside.  He’s very much a creature of the indoors and is happiest when he’s playing in his bedroom.  It’s always a struggle to get him out of the house for anything.  (Not surprisingly, he’s really taken to our family’s self-imposed quarantine!)  But what my husband and I have seen time and again is that the initial struggle to go outdoors—the arguing, the pouting, the complaining, the whining—immediately falls away once we get him on a trail.  Once we get moving, he always has a great time.