As the July 31 city council worksession drew to a close, Mayor Emmett Jordan reminded everyone that “this is just a start.” The meeting was called to discuss the Forest Preserve Assessment conducted by A. Morton Thomas and Associates, Inc. (AMT) with Gregory Osband, the company’s director of landscape architecture and ecosystem services, Erin Josephitis, the city’s environmental coordinator and members of the Forest Preserve Advisory Board (FPAB). Osband discussed aspects of the assessment such as the goals, existing conditions and methodology. The assessment was done using protocols spelled out in state conservation law and looked at the forest lands as a natural resource, he said. Most of the observation work was done in October and November 2015.
The mapping found three types of forests (tulip poplar association, white oak-red oak association and red maple-sweet gum association) and some highly disturbed areas.
The most disturbed areas, Osband said, were near the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, where the water turns gray after heavy storms due to the runoff from the roadway. Other disturbed sites include the abandoned dump and the mulch pile.
Read more of this story in the August 10 News Review