Save these dates -- Fall Big Tree Tour and Conservation Montgomery Annual Meeting

Make your reservation

for our Fall Big Tree Tour

The Agricultural Reserve is home to several of the most impressive champion trees in Montgomery County, including an American Sycamore which replaced the Wye Oak as Maryland's largest tree. A battered but venerable Silver Maple still resides beside the towpath. This tour, led by the legendary Joe Howard, involves a short hike to the Sycamore along the the edge of the Potomac River. (It isn't the easiest tree to find on your own.) One of its neighbors along the riverbank is the state champion Cottonwood.

Please bring water, wear comfortable clothing and be prepared to walk. Social distancing will be required. Masks are optional for the fully vaccinated. Please carpool if possible.

We are so grateful that, at 91, Joe is in good health and willing to lead tours to share his extensive knowledge of our heritage trees.

When: Saturday, Oct. 23 at 10 am. Rain date: Oct. 30th.

Where: Montgomery County Ag Reserve

Meeting point:

Dickerson Conservation Area

20700 Martinsburg Rd.

Dickerson, MD. 20842

There is a parking lot on the edge of C&O Canal NHP towpath.

Make a reservation here . Space is limited.

Registration is open

for our 2021 Annual Meeting

Join us for "Growing Resilience - An update on the Agricultural Reserve"

Guest Speaker: Caroline Taylor, Executive Director of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance

The 93,000 acres in upper Montgomery County is home to a bold and nationally-recognized farmland and an open space conservation plan intended to protect farmland, rural open space, forests and streams. The year 2020 brought the pandemic and a greater focus on the Reserve for locally-sourced food as store shelves emptied at the outset of the pandemic. Climate change poses great challenges, underscoring the imperative to protect natural resources and boost local sustainable food production.

Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA) has served for 20 years as an invaluable voice for protecting the Reserve, fostering new programs, helping small farmers find land, and promoting creation/expansion of forests. Caroline Taylor, MCA’s executive director, is a past recipient of our Joe Howard Environmental Award and a compelling spokeswoman for all things rural.

We will announce the recipient of the 2021 Joe Howard Award at the annual meeting, along with appreciation of several of our valued volunteers. Due to the pandemic, we will hold the meeting as a Zoom event. Our county is 99% vaccinated, but we are still being cautious. We hope to see you in person in 2022.

Home Tree Care 101

There is one class date still available: Oct. 30

This is a good time to sign your community up for Home Tree Care 101 class. We have two new arborists this year -- Andrés Ovalle and Jack Pond.

Why sign your community up for a class?

Arboriculture is constantly changing and being updated with new research and best practices for trees and tree care. And each arborist brings his or her own personal and professional view of trees and what they mean to our environment. Come find out what Andrés and Jack have to say about the latest trends in tree care.

About the HTC 101 program

As we all know, mature trees on your home lot will stay healthy longer if they receive proper care. To learn more about our popular Home Tree Care 101 sessions, click on to the green bold link in this sentence.

The per-class price is reduced this year to $20 per person in case Covid-19 has put a strain on your personal budget. We are also assisted by a grant from the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection to manage this program. The grant has allowed us to expand this program to includes classes in Spanish. If you have a group of homeowners who are native Spanish speakers, Andres can teach the class in both English and Spanish. And, as a reminder, HTC 101 is an outdoor class. Masks are optional for the fully vaccinated. We encourage appropriate physical distancing.

To express interest in the October 30 class, go to this link.

A volunteer from Conservation Montgomery will contact you.

Are you a native Spanish speaker?

View the Home Tree Care 101 short videos in Spanish at this link.

We are very grateful to partner with the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) again this year.

To learn more about DEP programs, such as Tree Montgomery , follow this link.

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