October 27 marked the 20th anniversary of Greenbelt City Council’s passage of an ordinance to protect the remaining 225 acres of original 800-acre forested Green Belt for which the town was named. On Sunday, October 29, the Committee to Celebrate the Greenbelt Forest Preserve (Susan Barnett, Jean Newcomb and Kristi Fletcher) hosted a well-attended and lively celebration at the New Deal Café, which brought together dozens of people who have fought side-by-side over the years to protect Greenbelt’s Great North Woods. Mayor Emmett Jordan read a proclamation, and several city councilmembers were present to show their support, including Konrad Herling (Master of Ceremonies), Ric Gordon, Silke Pope, Rodney Roberts and Kristen Weaver. Also present were former councilmember Ed Putens, a key proponent of the idea to create the Forest Preserve, and Celia Craze, former director of Planning and Community
Development, who, as staff liaison to the Forest Preserve Advisory Board (FPAB), championed a minimalist approach to forest interventions in keeping with the Forest Preserve Ordinance which she helped to research and develop.
A Celebration
Beautiful handmade medallions were distributed to the honorees, along with certificates and descriptions highlighting their work to keep the woods wild and wooded. A special vegan cake, adorned with Peace in the Woods artwork by Greenbelt artist Paul Downs, was baked by Maria of Cedars of Lebanon for the occasion. A slideshow depicting more than three decades of community activism to protect the preserve kicked off the celebration. Local singer and songwriter Melissa Sites premiered her new song, I Love the Woods, just for this event. Sites also made celebratory buttons that were given to each honoree.
Steeped in History
Downs, president of the Committee to Save the Green Belt, spoke about the early history of the campaign to Save the Green Belt that began in 1987 when headlines in the Greenbelt News Review alerted the community that their beloved Great North Woods, which at that time was privately owned, was slated for development.
Greenbelt’s cherished annual Pumpkin Walk, now in its 35th year, was started in 1988 by Downs and other committee members to promote the campaign’s theme of Keep It Wooded by inviting people to have a great time enjoying the woods. Downs’ humorous accounts of the walk’s early years, which included bloodthirsty zombies, were a memorable highlight of the program.
For 16 years, the committee organized petition drives that would repeatedly fill council chambers, raising awareness through elaborate Labor Day booths and floats. Barnett noted that since the 1960s, groups have defended the forest from threats that targeted the woods as a site for housing, school buildings, ballfields and, most recently, the proposed maglev train, something the committee describes as a dragon of a threat occurring at the federal level.
The celebration committee presented Certificates of Recognition to several groups and individuals who have advocated to protect the Green Belt, and Barnett delivered informative remarks about the honorees.
Exceptional Leadership:
Judith Davis
Councilmember and former mayor Judith Davis, who was unable to be present, was recognized for three decades of exceptional leadership, during which she was instrumental in crafting the ordinance that passed to protect the woods, establishing the FPAB and expanding the preserve with the addition of Belle Pointe, Boxwood, Greenbriar and Sunrise Preserves. Accepting the award on Davis’s behalf was Neil Williamson.
Mindful Stewardship: FPAB
FPAB was recognized for “Mindful Stewardship” for their focused and intentional approach to the gentle and necessary care of the forest to ensure its continued health and protection. Donna Hoffmeister, FPAB co-chair, accepted the award, which praised FPAB’s Master Trail Plan, approved in 2023, forest expansion and community outreach.
Unique Advocacy: MCRT
The Unique Advocacy by an Organization award was given to recognize the Maryland Coalition for Responsible Transit (MCRT) for what the committee described as heroic efforts to build a coalition and seek out every opportunity to stop the “potentially devastating and wasteful use of money and nature” that is the maglev “dragon.”
Unique Advocacy: Individuals
Three individuals were recognized for this award.
Catherine Plaisant, a scientist, avid nature photographer and hiking enthusiast, is currently the co-leader on several scientific research projects in the forest. Plaisant produced Walking the Maglev Path, a YouTube video that illustrates how the forest would be decimated by the maglev. The video won 2021’s best community video from GATe (Greenbelt Access Television).
Damien Ossi, a wildlife biologist, avid hiker and founding member of Greenbelt Biota, the community’s naturalist club, was recognized for his work as FPAB co-chair for five years. During that time, he skillfully and diplomatically led the board through several major achievements to protect the wild character and preserve the health of the forest as well as fight the maglev.
Owen Kelley, who says he looks at the forest with the eye of a scientist, was also recognized for his work with FPAB, along with the unique scientific studies of trees and resources he has developed: an artistic trail map, his book A Hundred Wild Things: A Field Guide to Plants in the Greenbelt North Woods (2019) and his publication Ridership Revisited: The Official Ridership Forecast for the Proposed Baltimore-Washington Maglev Is a Factor of Ten Too High (2020).
To learn more about the history of how the Green Belt was saved, see the October 17, 2013, issue of the Greenbelt News Review.