4/7/25 Meeting Agenda

6:30-7:30 pm Zoom

Recent events:

  • LNHP cohort gardens weeding (Jimmy)

  • Sweitzer park native garden weeding (Jess)

  • Sturgis Moore native garden weeding (Cheryl)

  • Poetry printing workshop (Cheryl)

Upcoming events:

  • Poem unveiling at Sweitzer on April 26, 11:00 a.m. (Cheryl)

  • Main St. Festival 5/10 (Event time: 9 am - 4 pm Total time: 8 am - 5 pm) (Jess)

    • Two spaces means twice the person-power and twice the supplies (tents, tables, etc.)

      • We will have a morning and afternoon shift

      • Features: mural, monarchs, trash sort, LNHP, seedling giveaway, etc.

    • Seedling give-away update (Holly L., Jimmy)

Updates and announcements:

  • MD Bottle Bill (Holly H)

  • L4P Tshirt committee (Kate, Cheryl)

    • Design reveal

    • Cost, quantity, details

  • Mural Initiative - Theme: Birds and Chandler Robbin - Location: East wall of Quick Mart, 5th street Laurel. (Cherly, Brian, Melissa, Ruth)

    • Support & partnership from Nadol Hishmeh, business owner

    • Fundraising plan and call for organizers to help with fundraising events 

    • How do we want to advertise at Main St. Festival?

    • May 21 mural fundraiser at Olive on Main

  • New Treasurer to succeed Dave Everett: Victoria Bell  (Jess)

  • LNHP cohort 2 planning (Jess)

    • Pick a meeting date

    • How do we want cohort 1 involved in planning?

  • New sign at the riverfront restoration site highlighting partnership among L4P, Howard EcoWorks, City of Laurel and Laurel Historical Society (Brian)

    • Graphic designer needed

    • Does anyone have before pictures?

  • Next in-person meeting is June 2 (summer break: July and August)

    • Who will host?

4/7/25 Minutes

Attending the meeting –  Jess Bolz, Brian Coyle, Cheryl Dyer, Heidi Hess-Webber, Andrea Crooms (PG County District 1 Policy Director), Stosh Comisiak, Jock Haight, Victoria Bell, Edith Goldman, Pauline Apling, Holly Hoglund, Monro Myersburg

Recent Events

Weeding events (Jimmy/Cheryl)  – 

1)  A weeding event was held at the Sweitzer Park native garden.  A small but mighty crew showed up and the event went well.  Grass is an issue in the Sweitzer Garden.  Jimmy doesn’t think it’s worth fighting the grass. We don’t have the people power and the tall plants subdue it for the most part.  

2)  A second weeding event took place at the Sturgis Moore native garden.  Mike McLaughlin spread a wood chip berm around that garden and it seems to be helping to keep the grass out.  James Kole also held a pruning event there to teach folks correct pruning technique.


Poetry Printing workshop (Cheryl) - this first part of the poetry project went great.  Folks did origami writing and created nature scrolls.  There will be a permanent poem installation on a picnic table at Sturgis Moore picnic area on April 26th at 11am.  Cheryl is advertising in a variety of different places about the poetry events. 


Upcoming Events

  • Poetry installation/unveiling will take place at Sturgis Moore picnic area on April 26th at 11am.

  • Main Street Festival will take place on Saturday, May 10th, from 9am until 4pm.  Volunteers at the Laurel for Patuxent booth will be:  Mike McLaughlin, Stosh, Jock, Cheryl, Jess, Brian, Monroe, Vicki, Jimmy, Holly Hoglund, and Holly Leopardi.  The booth will include:  a monarch station, trash sort, LNHP advertising for 2nd cohort, and a seedling giveaway.  Jimmy is handling the seedling preparation.  There will be five species - three for sunny areas and two for shade.  Three are local ecotypes.  There will be a potting day on either April 26th or 27th to prep the seedlings for giveaway.  Jimmy, Holly Leopardi and Holly Hoglund will pot the plants and are also working to create literature about each plant.

Updates

Bottle bill (Holly) - The bill didn’t pass but it came a long way.  It got through the Environmental Affairs Committee, but not through the Economic Matters Committee.  It didn’t get to the Senate.  The group agreed to have information about the bottle bill at the Main Street Festival booth.

L4P tshirts (Cheryl) - Kate did a great job with the design of the shirts.  It’s a two-sided shirt.  Jess is looking for a printer.  It looks like the t-shirt will cost $15 to print, probably $25 to buy.

Main Street mural project (Brian/Cheryl) - the mural will be bird-themed, featuring Chandler Robbins, an ornithologist who lived in Laurel.  The artist who will be painting the mural has done 178 different murals around the world.  The owner of the building (Quik Mart at 5th and Main) is onboard for this project.  The city will provide necessary equipment.  The artist is doing a mock-up of the design now.  On the mural committee are Cheryl, Brian, Ruth and Melissa Holland.  There will be a fundraiser at Olive on Main on May 21st, for lunch and dinner.  Diners must mention the mural and 20% of their bill will be donated to the cost of the mural.  Also, any donation of $100 or more will get a free t-shirt.  The committee is targeting late August to mid-September for the actual painting.  The artist is Jeff Huntington aka JAHRU.  Folks can check out his website.  

New treasurer (Jess) - our treasurer, Dave Everett, will be moving this summer.  Our new treasurer will be Victoria Bell.  Welcome Victoria!

Laurel Native Habitat Program Cohort 2 planning  (Jess/Jimmy) - someone on Cohort 1 will organize a meeting to collect input and ideas about LNHP from Cohort 1 members before Cohort 2 is put in place

Sign at riverside restoration site (Brian) - we would like to replace the sign that is at the restored site behind the museum with one that addresses the newly planted trees, the restoration project, and that talks about stewardship.  Brian and Stosh have reached out to Bill Bailey with the city government to discuss this.  Also, they will talk to the new director of the museum about planting a native ground cover to prevent invasives from creeping back.

Other Business

  • Cheryl will host the June meeting where we will say goodbye to Dave Everett

  • Stosh has L4P vests available to purchase.  He paid $15 per vest.  Call him to purchase.

  • Brian brought up that the fish in our planters (from the fish art project a few years ago) are beginning to look a little weathered and sad.  That project was a joint one with the Laurel Arts Council and was a massive effort.  If we redo the fish, be prepared!

  • Next meeting is May 5th on Zoom