As we near the end of the year, Foundation committees are consistently busy as they finish their annual project plans. The two committees that manage our collection of precious properties are certainly no exception. 

Bond Street Meadow. With a bit of sadness, we announce that the last large silver maple in the Bond Street Meadow was taken down recently. Silver maples are valued for their fast growth and ample shade--and reviled for their brittle wood and susceptibility to storm damage. On this property this species has exhibited all of these characteristics.

Two of these mature trees made a dramatic exit in 2009, as shown below, snapping off at their bases in an April storm, damaging the stone wall next to John Wesley Community Church on Liggett Street. Most of another silver maple on Bond Street toppled in a July windstorm this year, and the final weakened tree was removed.

With the old trees gone, the young sugar maples planted some years ago have room to thrive and provide shade for this green space on the village's western end.

Phillips Farm. For the past year or so, many Phillips Farm trail walkers have been noticing visible erosion as they cross over the Tannery Branch bridge.  The Phillips Farm Committee is working to see what approach should be taken to restore that streambed just as it enters the Catoctin Creek.  This week staff met on site with a consulting ecologist to devise the best approach to prevent further erosion and restore the area. The bridge will have to be moved upstream first, and then rock will be carefully laid down.

And while we are at that time of year when naughty children are threatened with coal in their Christmas stockings, we are actually hoping to get rocks in ours! Please, if you have any local rock to donate to this project, especially some very large pieces ("the size of an engine block" is the recommendation), let us know.  We'd like to use local, native rock, at least on top, so it blends in with the natural landscape. 

We are also working on repair of an area a bit further along the trail, where there is failing drain tile that farmers laid down in the 1930s or 40s.  As the tiles break, the soil above collapses and gets washed away, creating treacherous holes.

Forge. Christmas came early to the Foundation this year. Last month, Walter Music and CertaPro Painters of Loudoun donated a long overdue new coat of paint to the Forge. They not only donated the paint, they donated the workforce to get the building painted!