Council to Hold Hearing on Pesticide Legislation Dec. 18th is date to sign up to testify
By Members of Safe Grow Montgomery
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County lawmakers have listened to residents across Montgomery County concerning unwanted exposure to harmful cosmetic lawn pesticides, including synthetic herbicides, insecticides, and others used for non-essential aesthetic purposes on manicured grasses. Thanks to the efforts of Council President George Leventhal, Bill 52-14 has been introduced to address residents' concerns. Councilmembers Marc Elrich, Nancy Floreen, Nancy Navarro, and Hans Riemer have all signed on to the bill as co-sponsors. CM partner organization Safe Grow Montgomery (SGM)has led the charge to request county-wide pesticide legislation.
A County Council hearing is set for January 15, 2015. It will be important for residents to testify and express concern about these harmful chemicals used on lawns. The lawn care industry and others have already mounted an aggressive campaign to stop or weaken the legislation.
If adopted, this would be a landmark ordinance to protect families, especially children and pregnant women, pets, wildlife (including pollinators), our waterways, and the wider environment from the hazards of the unnecessary use of lawn pesticides in Montgomery County. The ubiquitous use of these pesticides in landscaping has given many the false notion that these chemicals are harmless.
Call 240-777-7803 on December 18th to sign up to testify on this important legislation.
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Home Tree Care 101 a Hit with Chevy Chase West Community
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Certified arborist Andrew Driscoll (far left) teaching the Home Tree Care 101 class in Chevy Chase West in late November
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By Lauren Fernandez
West Chevy Chase
With Fall well underway, a dozen CCW residents gave their leaf rakes, pruners and other outdoor gardening implements a rest recently to learn a little bit more about the trees in their yards. Conservation Montgomery, a coalition of civic and environmental organizations that addresses a broad spectrum of environmental and quality of life issues in our County, came to CCW to hold a "Home Tree Care 101" Seminar on Saturday, November 22nd.
This particular Seminar, coordinated by CCW resident and former Tree Committee co-chair Lauren Fernandez and Conservation Montgomery's Caren Madsen, was dedicated to the memory of CCW resident Terry Dammann, who passed away suddenly on October 12, 2014. A long-time CCWer, Terry was an avid gardener and horticulturalist, and a dedicated volunteer. She served on the Board of the Chevy Chase West Neighborhood Association as Tree Committee Chair, overseeing the planting of scores of new trees in our community. In addition to her contributions to CCW, Terry volunteered her time and expertise at the U.S. Botanic Garden and at the National Arboretum Fern Valley Native Plant collection for over 10 years.
Read the full story here.....
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Stand of Trees at Silver Spring Intersection Faces Uncertain Fate
By Phyllida Paterson Chair, Tree Committee, North Woodside
 A stand of more than one hundred trees close to downtown Silver Spring was nearly razed by the Maryland State Highways Administration (SHA) this fall, with no replanting plan in place. After protests from the community, including Conservation Montgomery, SHA reduced the scope of the work and promised to replant in spring. However the work they went on to do hollowed out and opened up the stand and caused damage to existing trees. Meanwhile, the replanting plan is so far only a verbal promise, with no firm guarantee that it will take place.
The trees in question fill a large unbuilt wedge of land in the SHA right-of-way where the north- and south-bound lanes of 16th St split as 16th meets Georgia Ave. They are the last of the patches of second-growth woods which as recently as a few years ago dotted Georgia Ave between Wheaton and central Silver Spring. Tree species include Locust, Tulip Poplar, Oak and Maple, all volunteers. There is also small wetland on the parcel.
Although this woodland had been badly degraded by invasive vines, mostly English Ivy, as well as invasive brush, satellite views show that it nevertheless provided a large patch of unbroken tree canopy in summer. This was particularly valuable as the land abuts the Montgomery Hills Business District, which is almost entirely paved and has the lowest tree canopy in all of Montgomery County at only 8%, instead of the recommended 25%. The trees and thicket-like undergrowth also served as a visual, noise and pollution barrier for homes on either side of 16th St in the adjacent neighborhoods of Woodside and North Woodside. Fallen trees and snags, hard to find in the suburbs, provided homes for those wildlife species that depend on them.
Read the full story here......
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