WTOP is reporting that the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, or WRDA, would authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct studies to find a secondary drinking water source and additional drinking water storage. This bill is up for approval in the next two weeks. 
Local water officials have been studying the use of the Travilah Quarry. However it is likely that even more capacity will need to be found to meet demand as drought threatens supply. 

For many, finding the perfect tree is an exciting part of the holiday. This year, consider making a outing of it and visiting Montgomery County's tree farms. We have some great family-owned options farms to choose from. 
Butlers Orchard
Naughty Pine Nursery

An add on excursion- you can time your tree expedition to visit the Countryside Artisan's Open Studio Tour weekends.  Or maybe a winery or brewery.

For those of you with affection for our County’s wonderful rustic roads- take a little time to hear from those giving voice to the benefits of the program and continued stewardship of these byways. 
(MCA’s testimony begins at approximately 6:07:00 - but hear others strong testimony as well.)

The record will remain open until December 9 for folks to write in to support the program and important Rustic Roads Advisory Committee recommendations (testimony here.)

​Details (thank you Leslie Saville):

WHO: You, your friends and neighbors, residents, visitors, groups (civic, historic, environmental, recreational), farmers, farm market and CSA operators, vintners and brewers, artists, visitors, cyclists, equestrians, hikers, businesses--anyone and everyone who loves and uses our rustic roads. 


WHAT: Please tell the Planning Board how your road (or your favorite road) is special to you. Your testimony doesn't need to be long, but if it's personal and heartfelt, it will be powerful.  

Ideas you might include: These roads are historic and unique, as are the bridges, structures and landscapes along them. They are narrow, slow, and safe, leading to places of wonder--to views of Sugarloaf Mountain, to historic communities, both Black and White, past a one-room schoolhouse, a favorite barn or a row of 100-year old cedar trees. 

Your testimony would be especially helpful if it highlights how valuable and irreplaceable these historic, scenic roads continue to be, that they are integral to our working landscapes, rural areas and villages, and the functioning of the Agricultural Reserve. They strengthen our rural businesses including our farms, markets, orchards, stables, wineries, breweries and art studios along them. These roads are safely shared by all users, and their narrow pavements protect the water quality in our streams and reservoirs. Heritage tourism along these roads is an enormous economic asset for our rural economy. 

Love your own road! Please name your road (or roads). Include a stunning photo or two! Check your road description in the master plan and point out something specific you support. Examples--a new designation, a historic or one-lane bridge that's a Significant Feature of your road, a history write up that highlights things you might not know or that you hope others might learn, or historic sites, views or champion trees shown on the new map of your road. 

Send email to:

MCP-Chair@mncppc-mc.org


BCC:  info@mocoalliance.org



Thanks for your support of our Rustic Roads!

Late breaking good news from Frederick County: Outgoing County Executive Jan Gardner has just announced that Frederick County will institute a Rustic Roads Program to protect 80 miles of roads that were identified in the 20 year old Rural Roads program with an "exceptionally rustic" designation and adds 287 miles of "candidate roads" that will be studied for inclusion in the program. 

Executive Gardner: "We know that preservation is crucial to maintaining our community’s unique characteristics,” Executive Gardner said. “By launching this Rustic Roads Program, we can preserve Frederick County’s rustic roads in their natural and historic settings so future generations can understand and appreciate our rich agricultural history.” 
Video of the proclamation here and County press release here. 

Frederick's push for more protection for rural roads makes a strong case for continued protection for those same roads as they cross the border into MoCo's rural lands. 

Lets face it, the holidays come with a lot of stress. You start with the best of intentions- your heart swells with the first light display or card from a friend- but somewhere in there, you've just had too much pie, or paid too much for expedited shipping, you've just lost that peace on earth, goodwill toward all part. 

Fear Not! Over the past years 3 new days on the calendar have emerged as a counterweight to the frantic shopping and schlepping that the holidays can become. We are partnering with the county Department of Environmental Protection for the "Gift Outside the Box" campaign - urging folks to shop local, shop green and reduce waste and emissions and maybe even increase joy.
May we humbly suggest a Re-Leaf Honor Card - you give in honor or memory, we send a card to your loved one with thanks for helping plant forever forests in MoCo (5000 trees...and counting!)

Opt Outside is a campaign by outdoor retailer REI to urge families to spend their holiday time outside instead of at the mall on Black Friday. As they did for the first time in 2015, their website will go dark, their fulfillment center will go silent as their employees spend the day outside. Visit Montgomery County's amazing parks this weekend.

Small Business Saturday is November 26th this year- skip the mall and enjoy your local retailers that keep your money close to home and enrich your community. Farmers are the oldest small business there is. You might want to check out a year round farm and artisan market. Or visit an on-farm brewery or winery.  

Thrive 2050, the update to the general plan meant to guide land use in the County for the coming decades, had its final vote at the Council at the end of October and was unanimously passed.

Thrive, through there were some efforts to address its problems in the weeks before the vote, remains flawed  in a number of concerning ways. 
Undergirding it is the view of densification as a panacea for all problems in all areas of the County, with no meaningful policy guard rails to ensure this new development is affordable for residents and beneficial for the county - be that economically, equitably or environmentally. Specifically, on water/forest/farmland protection, racial justice and more, we stand with the diverse coalition of civic groups who had been respectfully sharing concerns about both the Thrive plan and lack of transparency since the beginning - and providing compromise solutions for its improvement. 

Both Thrive's supporters and its detractors have said that the plan is only a starting point - a beginning, not an end.

The real work of Thrive starts now as a new planning board and chair of unknown tenure and a mostly new and expanded Council take office (resignations and firings at Planning). There is both challenge and opportunity where these policies meet the road. 

So now - we do as we always have… we dig in to press for transparency and public interest as the plan is rolled out. We are going to be all over this, like stormwater on pavement. 

Thanks to your support we had a seat at the table to strongly suggest changes that would strengthen the plan. Your continued support will help us mitigate the roll out of Thrive as words on a page take shape on the landscape.
​
That is where it matters - with 20 years of advocacy and your continued support- that is where we will be.  

We would be honored by your tax deductible gift this giving season. ​

MCA wants to thank everyone who took action in support of a strengthened County Forest Conservation Law, which hasn’t been updated in some time.

We've heard from the Council that update will be pushed to the next session. 

While MCA and the whole MoCo Forest Coalition are disappointed to not have stronger protections in place as soon as possible - vocal support for a stronger forest law has helped steer the county toward a path of protection - especially for our existing forests. We commit to keep working with partners at Planning and allies on the council to make sure that the new council can get strong forest protections in place quickly next session.​

Your support will be key in this process in the coming year. Stay tuned and stay ready to once again support MoCo's forests.

How are Maryland's forests doing?
​A new comprehensive study of the state's forests has just been completed. 
This baseline information is coming at a critical time as we seek to strengthen the County Forest Conservation plan when the new Council takes office. 
The Harry Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology will host a webinar to unveil the key findings of this landmark study Wednesday, November 16, 2022 from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM EST
Learn More: 

The Ag Reserve preserves many things, one of them is historical resources. Two preservation efforts were lauded at this year's Montgomery Preservation Awards in the Ag Reserve - the Montevideo Bridge  and the ongoing archeological dig at Sugarland's St Paul Community Church property - a joint project of Montgomery College and the Sugarland Ethno History Project. Learn more about Sugarland in SEHP's award winning book - I Have Started for Canaan.  

There's much more to discover about the Reserve's Rustic Roads like Montevideo - kudos to our friends at the Rustic Roads Advisory Committee. 

(Want to See the Rustic Roads up close? Join us each Fall for the Ride for the Reserve Bike Tour)
See the full presentation of the Montgomery Preservation awards here. 

MCA has signed onto a letter from the American Bird Conservancy and hundreds of local environmental and animal protection organizations across the country to strongly urge the EPA to properly regulate pesticide coated seeds.

The EPA's rule making arm has said this month that the coated seeds are exempt from something called the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) that puts proper guard rails on the use of these chemicals intended to kill pests - including careful tracking of the instances of their use and the impacts of that use. These seeds are coated in chemicals called neonicotinoids - widely known to be a factor in bee colony collapse and banned for retail sale in Maryland in 2018. 

From the letter - 97% of the pesticide coating of these seeds leave the seed and enter soil, groundwater and beyond. Exempting these seeds from the act meant to track and mitigate unintended consequences is therefore a terrible idea and has led to nearly a decade gap in data of just how much damage has been done. 

"​This loss of invertebrate life has rippling effects on ecosystems. Birds and mammals which depend on invertebrates for prey may experience massive reductions in population due to food shortages. Pollination may decrease due to pesticide-caused mortalities in pollinating insect, impacting human food supply. Normal ecosystem functions such as decomposition, soil turnover, and biological pest control may all cease."

Much more on the impact of pesticides on birds can be found on the American Bird Conservancy site here. 

A warm ceremony on a chilly fall evening by the fire on the Locals patio celebrated PLENTY publishers Jane Perini and Wib Middleton as the honorees of this year's Royce Hanson Ag Reserve Champion Award. MCA honored Wib and Jane's ability to tell the stories of the Reserve in a compelling way that shows the vibrancy and purpose of this special place. Wib and Jane were awarded with a vase from Dusty Road Pottery (special thanks to Josh Goldman for the handmade base he hand crafted from local wood). 

Speakers included MCA Board President and Shepherd Lee Langstaff, Father of the Ag  Reserve Dr. Royce Hanson, MCA Board Member Tanya Spandhala who's  farm, Passion to Seed Gardening, was profiled in one of the first issues of PLENTY in 2019 and finally Wib and Jane themselves followed by a few words from County Executive Marc Elrich. ​

Our thanks to Locals for hosting - the event attendees, our speakers and particularly Wib and Jane for taking on a labor of love to tell the story of the Ag Reserve in the County and beyond. 

During the pandemic, food insecurity in MoCo and across the country increased 50%. Into the gap have stepped a number of nimble and innovative organizations to connect food insecure people with healthy food, much of sourced cost effectively by growing it nearby.

AfriThrive is one such organization and it has been our honor to match them with land in Poolesville through our Land Link program to create a farm to supply their food distribution hubs across MoCo.
The AfriThrive farm is a special operation as they focus on crops that are "culturally appropriate" - foods that their clients are familiar with preparing and eating that form the backbone of their culture. 

AfriThrive is joined by other Land Link matched farms with a hunger fighting mission - including Beauty Blooms Farm and other farms focused on culturally appropriate foods such as Dodo Farms and Passion to Seed Gardening. 

There are still a number of new and expanding farmers looking for land to buy/lease to grow specifically to increase food security - all farmer seeking land listings can be found here. 

Considering hosting a farmer on your land? Start here with our landowner info session recording. Or reach out - landlink@mocoalliance.org

Fall is a great time for planting most anything - but particularly a forest. We are excited to once again work with our partners at Montgomery County Planning" Reforest Montgomery  and contractors Gardens By Garth. Shown here 400 trees on 2 acres leafing out nicely for Fall. This season's planting will be 4 acres, and another six acres next year. With this Spring's efforts we will be planting our 5000th tree through our Re-Leaf Program!
There are a number of ways to get involved in reforesting stream buffers in the Ag Reserve:

• Sign up to host a forever forest with an easement and planting on your property
• Volunteer for planting or aftercare of the trees
• Give a thoughtful and clutter free gift with a Re-Leaf Honor Card sent to your loved one. 
• There are tree programs for downcounty residents too. 

County Exec Elrich sent this memo to the Council today urging the Council to delay a vote on Thrive 2050 (the consequential update to the general plan that will guide growth and zoning for decades to come). 

The Council plans to vote on the plan on October 25th - the same day they plan to assign interim planning board members after the former board members were asked to resign en-masse amid a number of scandals at Park and Planning.  

Executive Elrich asks that given the upheaval at planning (including violations of the open meeting laws that may have stifled participation in creating the plan), a new planning board have another look at Thrive. He also highlights the way in which 3 chapters were added hastily to the plan without public hearing in the past few weeks. These chapters include passages on equity and the environment - but don't actually contain recommendations that will be part of the actual plan - citing lack of time. 

MCA has joined with a broad coalition of civic groups concerned about low income housing, the environment and more to urge that Thrive be paused. The Council's hired consultant said it best "Compressed timelines are the enemy of equity." This consequential plan can't be rushed. 

The agenda for the 10/25 Council meeting is here. 

 Firings and resignations at MCMNCPP create chaos and further undermine confidence in County decision making. 
Press on the topic:
Washington Post- "Montgomery planning board resigns amid scandals, at council’s urging"
DCist - "All 5 Montgomery County Planning Board Members Resign"

Q+A with County Exec Marc Elrich - Montgomery Perspective 

​WTOP -"‘Dozens’ interested in filling Montgomery Co.’s Planning Board amid internal division"

Washington Post "Montgomery County sees 128 applications for planning board"
The full list from Parent's Coalition

Note: always a great idea to visit social media or even better call the farm before visiting - weather, availability and more can interfere with open hours. 

​We take great pleasure in announcing the 2022 Royce Hanson – Ag Reserve Champion honorees: Jane Perini and Wib Middleton – PLENTY Magazine

PLENTY has emerged as an important resource that inspires, educates, unifies, and uplifts. Please join us in congratulating them! (You can support MCA's Ag education efforts through PLENTY magazine here)

​Wib Middleton writes (because that is what he does):

​Having moved back to the area in 2018 after living in Arizona for almost twenty years, Jane Perini and Wib Middleton landed on the edge of the Ag Reserve in the Seneca area. It was May and the iridescent explosion of green was quite a vivid contrast to crimson-spired, high-desert Sedona. Early morning forays with camera in tow on back roads exploring miles and miles of forever farmland and gorgeous countryside begged the questions: what was this Ag Reserve, how did it come into being and was anyone telling its stories?
 
Conversations ensued with MCA about the possibility of creating a hyper-local magazine all about this treasured asset comprising 1/3 of Montgomery County. Caroline Taylor of MCA and other longtime stakeholders were most encouraging and hugely helpful.  Together with long time stakeholders we enrolled local writers, nonprofit heads, farmers, and other Reserve dwellers open to telling their stories about life and work in the Reserve. Based on that we launched PLENTY magazine in summer of 2019.

Eleven issues later and three years in, PLENTY magazine has become a beloved local publication only possible by the abundant outpouring of gifted volunteer writers, photographers, distribution partners and the incredible family of PLENTY advertisers…all who collaborate with each issue to make it all possible.
 
For Wib and Jane, PLENTY is a labor of love to help inform, inspire and engage its readers about the preciousness of Ag Reserve farmland and open spaces, local history, culture, artisans, entrepreneurs and heroes—the farmers, CSA organizers, nonprofits helping with food insecurity and new farming trends. There are many more stories to tell from the stakeholders and stewards who love the Ag Reserve and protect it.
 
To be selected as awardees for the 2022 Royce Hanson Award is completely unexpected and so appreciated. PLENTY magazine is a reflection of all of us who have a stake in this area’s food and farming future. In this spirit and understanding we share this award with all of you. These are your stories, your struggles, your life’s work that show up in the magazine. We are the newcomers who are grateful and humbled to create a magazine to tell your stories.

The rave reviews for PLENTY are rolling in: 

How have I lived 20+ years in this county and never heard about the wonderful Agricultural Reserve? This publication is a gem. I’d probably know more if I haunted more farmers markets. But I don’t and that’s a shame. I wonder how many other MoCo residents are the same as me. I guess the time is right and better late than never to learn about this resource. So thanks for your work. Cheers!          
    ~ Jimilee Komolafe
 
Another GREAT issue of Plenty—you do such a terrific job!! Beautiful photos and well written articles. Your magazine just gets better with each issue. Thank you so much for your support of our Ag Reserve.
     ~ Sue Kingsbury Ketron 

MCA was proud to be one of many groups pushing the White House to end support of incineration as a waste disposal method. See the letter here. 
The science is clear - burning trash is just not an environmentally sound strategy and it disproportionately impacts people of color. Currently the EPA is sometimes promoting the burning of trash as a green power source. This needs to stop. 

From the letter: 
Nearly three quarters of the nation’s trash incinerators are among the top three industrial air polluters in their counties, 57% are among the top two, and 31% top the list, according to data from EPA’s National Emissions Inventory.
This air pollution contributes to asthma attacks, cancers, birth defects, heart attacks, strokes, and a myriad of other public health problems, exacerbating existing health disparities considering where the largest and most polluting incinerators sit. Studies that have found connections between trash incinerators and public health primarily notice increased cancers, respiratory diseases and symptoms, and cardiovascular diseases.

An interesting comment from Councilmember Riemer at yesterday's Thrive 2050 work session where he says that "urban heat islands are caused by not tall enough buildings." He went further to ask that "urban" be removed to better discuss heat islands across the county that are not all found in urban areas. 

The same Tom Di Libreto that Councilmember Riemer quoted has a excellent Tedx talk about Urban Heat Islands. Mr. Di Libreto notes that urban areas are by their nature hotter - making removing the term "urban" from heat island a puzzling request. From Mr. Di Libreto's presentation:

Notable also here is the statistical correlation between racist redlining practices that have made communities of color susceptible to higher  Urban Heat levels and conversely with less resources to handle that higher heat (again from Mr. Di Libreto's excellent talk)

Not just do urban areas have higher heat values - but skyscrapers in fact make it worse as the UN's IPCC has reported. “It’s impossible to solve our affordable housing crisis, our climate emergency, and people’s desire for improved quality of life against racism and disinvestment into separate silos.” There are ways to accomplish our goals but more density is not without cost. 

Below is a message from a forest coalition member to the Council to share these points and be sure that Thrive takes on Urban heat islands in a substantive way with the most accurate science:

"With all due respect, the URBAN heat island effect is real, and it is the term of art used by all climate scientists and the climate change and urban planning community. I strongly object to deleting this word from Thrive. This smacks of censorship and misrepresenting the science.

Also, Mr. Di Liberto, who Mr. Riemer mis-spoke by saying he was ‘head’ of climate.gov (but who is not head but is a social media manager for NOAA's Climate.gov) uses this term himself. Just because people stand in the shade of a building vs. in an unshaded area doesn’t mean the building (and all the pavement and concrete surrounding the building) isn’t absorbing heat. It is a scientific fact that urban areas are just plain hotter. 

If there were shade trees to stand under, people would stand there instead of on the sidewalk in the shadow of a building.

There are ways to attempt to reduce UHI effect of tall buildings. We can and should discuss those.  The most obvious is to increase tree cover, preserve or create vegetation, deploy green roofs, limit paved ares, and use reflective surfaces. In fact, Cambridge, MA is considering adopting a Cool Factor Zoning ordinance! 

One of the best ways to implement a climate-resilient THRIVE 2050, climate resilient Master Plans, and adopt County policies that actually improve resilience is the expand forests, tree canopy, green infrastructure as well as addressing the building envelopes and exteriors. This requires an all-in approach, not half measures that misrepresent what we are dealing with. 

Thank you - I assume you will put the word URBAN heat island effect back into Thrive 2050 and all other policies and ordinances. 

To underscore these FACTS, here are some references:

NOAA
Mr Di Liberto on URBAN heat islands:  https://youtu.be/sXtjMcOTIzg

Heat.gov: https://www.heat.gov/pages/urban-heat-islands


U.S Global Change Research Program National Climate Assessment
https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/11/
See chapter 11
"Despite these differences, U.S. cities experience some climate impacts in similar ways. For example, prolonged periods of high heat affect urban areas around the country.21 Cities are already subject to higher surface temperatures because of the  island (UHI) effect, which can also affect regional climate.29 The UHI is projected to get stronger with climate change.29 Another commonality is that most cities are subject to more than one climate stressor. Exposure to multiple climate impacts at once affects multiple urban sectors, and the results can be devastating.30 “

https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/18/
See chapter 18
"Northeastern cities, with their abundance of concrete and asphalt and relative lack of vegetation, tend to have higher temperatures than surrounding regions due to the urban heat island effect (increased temperatures, typically measured during overnight periods, in highly urbanized areas in comparison to outlying suburban, exurban, and rural locations). During extreme heat events, nighttime temperatures in the region’s big cities are generally several degrees higher than surrounding regions, leading to higher risk of heat-related death. In urban areas, the hottest days in the Northeast are also often associated with high concentrations of urban air pollutants including ground-level ozone (Ch. 13: Air Quality, KM 1). This combination of heat stress and poor urban air quality can pose a major health risk to vulnerable groups: young children, elderly, socially or linguistically isolated, economically disadvantaged, and those with preexisting health conditions, including asthma. Vulnerability is further heightened as key infrastructure, including electricity for air conditioning, is more likely to fail precisely when it is most needed—when demand exceeds available supply—with the potential for substantial negative health consequences.287 Finally, vulnerability to heat waves is not evenly distributed throughout the region. Rather, outdoor versus indoor air temperatures, baseline health, occupation, and access to air conditioning are important determinants of vulnerability (see Key Message 4).”

…"Present-day high temperatures (heat) have been conclusively linked to a higher risk of illness and death, particularly among older adults, pregnant women, and children (Ch. 14: Human Health). A number of studies have replicated these findings specifically in the Northeast (see Box 18.3; e.g., Wellenius et al. 2017, Bobb et al. 2014, Hondula et al. 2012305,306,307). Ambient temperatures and heat-related health effects can vary significantly over small geographic areas due to local land cover (for example, due to the urban heat island effect; see Key Message 3) (see also Ch. 5: Land Changes, KM 1), topography, and the resilience of individuals and communities.307,308"

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-05/documents/reducing_urban_heat_islands_ch_6.pdf
https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/learn-about-heat-islands

NASA
https://climatekids.nasa.gov/heat-islands/

University Consortium for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/climate-change-impacts/urban-heat-islands

Now, if you want to discuss how to mitigate the UHI effect of tall buildings, we can start talking about these types of actions:
https://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/Projects/Zoning/climateresiliencezoning

https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/heat-island-cooling-strategies

https://climate.mit.edu/explainers/urban-heat-islands

https://urbanland.uli.org/sustainability/four-approaches-to-reducing-the-urban-heat-island-effect/

https://earthbound.report/2021/07/14/5-ways-to-reduce-the-urban-heat-island-effect/




​

Wow what a ride! It was amazing to once again gather with our riders, vendors, volunteers and friends after two years hosting a virtual ride. There were so many great moments but when the wind kicked up before the rain it was so incredible to see volunteers and riders young and old all pitch in to get tables and chairs into the barn. Our riders really are the best and we thank you all. 
​
There are so, so many people to thank. 

Thanks to Sugarloaf Citizens Association for hosting us at gorgeous Linden Farm. Thanks to Heritage Montgomery for their consistent support the ride each year. Thank you to our dedicated Ride Chair Vivien Bonazzi who handled so much including mapping all new routes. Thanks to our ride leads Kamran, Jim, Dan and Barbara who took on guiding our shorter rides and Kenny and Cathy who made themselves available for SAG wagon duty. Thanks to Jim from Bike Doctor of Frederick who has provided consistent technical support for the ride. Generous Anne Davies opens her home at Stonefields each year for our longer rides and we thank her. 

And of course thanks to our many volunteers who help our small staff pull off this event each year. ​

Our thanks to Shannon and her band and also our pal Van for the music. ​

We feasted thanks to Panera, and the hometown tastemakers at Locals - who also hosted all riders as a rest stop - we thank them! Were was all that cider, apples and asian pears from - you know it was Kingsbury's Orchard where they are full to brimming with all your fall favorites right now. Thanks also to Wegmans of Germantown. 

Great captures of the day thanks to David Ris  who seems to be in multiple places at once with his camera - always with a smile. See all the photos from the event and his other projects here. 

Since 2001 Montgomery Countryside Alliance has been the nonprofit with boots on the ground in protection of the farms, fields, open space and water of Montgomery County's Ag Reserve for the benefit of all regional residents. Our local focus relies on local support. We'd be honored by your tax deductible contribution.