• No requirement for a baseline survey of forest,
• No requirement for a forest conservation plan that includes replanting to compensate for deforestation,
• No requirement for environmental impact monitoring by the county to assess the effectiveness of the plan.

We have read Bill 29-03. It appears to protect stream buffers, specimen and champion trees, trees on 20% of the gross tract area, and 50% of the net tract area by means of exceptions to the exemption. But once an exemption is granted, how will anyone know whether the landowner has cut 80% instead of 50%, or champion trees, or trees in a stream buffer, since there will be no baseline delineation and no monitoring?

In this scenario a property owner could write their own set of rules and monitor themselves.

Even agriculture, which enjoys a broad exemption from forest conservation, is supposed to use best management practices. There is no provision for Best Management Practices in Bill 29-03.

You might ask: Why are equestrian facilities different, and what is the important environmental issue? Grass pastures do not hold the same filtration capacity nor ecological function as do the more diverse stream bank vegetation that is found in a forested area. We expect the environmental impact to be widespread for the eventual transition from the current vegetative/filtration system to a denuded stream bank if this exemption is widely used.

For all of these reasons, we ask you to vote against 29-03. This is a vote on environmental stewardship, as well as an opportunity to uphold the environmental standard that will protect the water quality for all the residents of Montgomery County and the eventual impact on the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

Thank you for your consideration,

Tina Brown
Board Member
Sugarloaf Citizens Association

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