1/6/25 Meeting Agenda

6:30 - 7:30 pm Zoom

Updates and Discussion

  • December 15th Riverfront reforestation weeding and mulching event by L4P & Ecoworks - Pauline

    • Need volunteers to unstrap the rest of the trees, won’t take long - Jimmy 

  • Trash Clean Up - President’s Day Weekend, Feb 15th, 9:00 - 11:00.  Meet either at the Riverfront Park or the pool (TBD).  Rain date will be Monday Feb 17th, 9:00 - 11:00 - Pauline, Holly, Cheryl

  • L4P will be purchasing 15 durable trash pickers.  Also checking with Lowe’s and Home Depot about donating pickers - Holly

  • L4P Tshirts design and production - Cheryl

  • Official launch of City of Laurel Sustainability plan on Jan 30, 6:00 PM at City Hall - L4P members who participated in the planning process

  • L4P has reprogrammed some funds to supplement the Laurel Native Habitats program that is supported by a grant from NWF.  This will allow for a 2nd cohort in spring 2025  - Brian

  • L4P endorsement of the Maryland bottle refund bill - Holly

  • Early planning for a new L4P program to replace non-native with native shrubs (based on program in Columbia MD) - Jimmy & Brian 

  • MD HOMES Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program and High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Programs are still in development.  These generous point of sale “rebate” programs would be a strong boost for sustainability in MD​ - Mike McLaughlin

  • Agenda items for February and March?  

  • Where to host the next in-person meeting in March?


1/6/25 Minutes

Attending the meeting –  Brian Coyle, Mike McLaughlin, Holly Hoglund, Pauline Apling, Mike Maxwell, Dave Everett, Heidi Hess-Webber, Cheryl Dyer, Jock Haight,  Jimmy Rogers, Stosh Comisiak, Kate Thomas, Edith Goldman, Ruth Walls, Kristina Gilbertson and Monroe Myersberg, Carla D’Anna.

Updates

Howard EcoWorks Cleanup (Pauline)  –  The cleanup took place on December 15th for two hours.  It was a weeding and mulching event.  The mulching was just to make the area look tidier.  Jimmy talked to the organizers.  We can take the straps off of the new trees after a year unless the tree is at an odd angle.  An event is scheduled for January 18th from 10am til noon to take the straps off of the trees and do whatever else may be needed around the tree plantings. The area near the pool is mostly done.  Some trees that are closer to the river still need to be done as do the ones near the playground.  There are supposed to be more tree plantings by Howard EcoWorks in Laurel but there aren’t details available yet.


Litter-free Laurel event (Holly) - The event will take place on February 15th which is the Saturday of President’s Day weekend.  The rain date is Monday the 17th.  We will meet at McCullough Field in order to get people to spread out into the neighborhood.  We need more volunteers to help with overseeing the event.  The committee is ordering grabbers thanks to donations made on Giving Tuesday.  Mike McLaughlin asked Lowe’s and ACE Hardware to donate grabbers.  Lowes has chosen their non-profit organization for the year.  ACE has not responded yet.  Mike is pursuing how to get onto the non-profit list for Lowes and Home Depot for the future.  Kate asked how the trash pickup supports protecting the river.  Brian responded that it keeps trash out of the river as well as providing opportunities for volunteer engagement, education and improving our quality of life.

T-shirt fundraiser (Cheryl) - The committee is looking for a catchy phrase to use with the logo.  On the front of the shirt will be our little flower logo with the words “Laurel for the Patuxent”.  On the back will be those same words with the catchy saying.  Various suggestions were discussed.  The committee will take all suggestions into consideration.  Stosh suggested permanent signs with more detailed messages.  Kate is willing to offer her graphic design skills.  Mike McLaughlin has reached out to a vendor for printing help but they are no longer in business.  Regarding Stosh’s idea for signage, it was discussed that we might engage the city to co-design for existing sign locations at the river restoration site where the current signage is in need of replacement.


Launch of City’s Sustainability plan (Brian) - The launch of the City’s Sustainability plan is scheduled for January 30th at 6pm at City Hall.

Also, Laurel for the Patuxent has reallocated some funds to support a second cohort of the Laurel Native Habitats project which is supported by the National Wildlife Federation.  This second cohort will begin in the spring planting season.


Bottle Bill (Holly) - Laurel for the Patuxent is endorsing the bottle bill.  The House has given the bill a number - #HB232.  There seems to be pretty good support in the legislature for this bill.  Holly will continue to monitor its progress.


New L4P native planting program (Jimmy) - The new program will replace non-native shrubs with native ones.  This project will be supported by the Chesapeake Bay Trust.  Information will be provided to the larger community about invasive shrubs.  Participants will be able to pull out shrubbery that is invasive, pick out a native shrub to replace it and pick it up to plant.  This project was done in Columbia and it was very successful.  Most people don’t know what shrubs they have and whether they’re invasive so they will need help to identify them.  Columbia selects invasives that are seen in their woods.  We might be able to use members of our native plant cohorts to help with this project.  Edith asks if folks who aren’t able to dig for themselves can get help.  We don’t have a big workforce so it doesn’t seem likely at this time.  However, our volunteers did plant 150 trees to celebrate Laurel’s 150th birthday so it’s possible.  Heidi suggests getting teenagers to participate, training them in invasive/native species to help with identification.  Participants will not be able to take a native shrub without trading an invasive one in return.


Maryland Point-of-Sale rebate program (Mike McLaughlin) - The latest info from the Maryland Department of Energy is that they are looking for nonprofits to help them choose communities for two pilot projects.  Mike submitted an application for Laurel to be a pilot program recipient on behalf of Laurel for the Patuxent.  The project will replace gas appliances with new electric ones and will pay for the installation of geothermal energy systems.


Other business

  • Who will host our monthly meeting for March?  Heidi, Mike McLaughlin and Carla all volunteered.

  • For February, we may want to consider having a speaker talk about native/invasive species prior to the spring planting season.

  • Dave announced that he will be leaving the area in the next year.  We will need to replace him as Treasurer.