FTJF Hosts “City Tree Health Can Be Predicted by Climate Models” Talk

On December 3, 2025, Maggie Schaefer, a University of Maryland Master’s candidate in the Entomology Department, presented some of her research in city tree health to a crowd of enthusiasts at Union Craft Brewing. 

Urban environments pose significant challenges to tree health, and climate change further complicates their growth and longevity. While newly planted trees, particularly in sidewalk tree pits, are often chosen with climate resilience in mind, the fate of established trees in increasingly hotter climatic conditions is less certain.

Maggie discussed the U. S. Forest Service’s Climate Change Tree Atlas which categorizes tree species based on adaptability and capability – the latter indicating projected health under future climate scenarios. Her team sampled key tree species across Baltimore, covering both cool and hot neighborhoods with input from the city’s Forestry division. They assessed tree health by measuring heat stress, signs of disease and environmental factors like tree pit size and insect presence.

The results showed that some species, such as Flowering dogwoods, struggled in all conditions, while others, like American lindens and Red oaks, are thriving citywide. Overall, areas with higher temperatures show poorer tree health for certain species like Silver maples and Willow oaks. 

Maggie emphasized that a tree’s capability to manage temperature variability was the strongest predictor of health in changing climates, but maintaining species diversity remains critical for a resilient urban canopy. “Diversity is Resilience!” read one of her slides.

Heartfelt thanks to Maggie for sharing her excellent work, and to Union Craft Brewing for hosting this engaging event!

-Jessica Schue, Baltimore City TreeKeeper / FTJF Stewardship Weed Warrior 

Please Attend One of the 2026 Strategic Plan Public Meetings

The first round of meetings will be geographically focused. You are encouraged to attend the session that best matches where you live, work or study:

  • Middle Falls (spanning Northern Parkway to I-695): Saturday, January 24 from 1- 4pm at the Park School of Baltimore
  • Lower Falls & Harbor (covering the Inner Harbor to Northern Parkway): Saturday, February 7 from 1- 4pm at the MICA – Brown Center
  • Upper (from I-695 to Garrison Forest Veteran Cemetery): Saturday, February 21 from 1- 4pm at the Irvine Nature Center

Thanksgiving 2025 Tributes to Environmentalists Jane Goodall and Robert Redford

Jane Goodall – Primatologist/Conservationist

Photo credits: (l) Europe Press/Associated Press, (r) National Geographic

“Human beings are a part of nature, not apart from it. Some have always thought this was true, but Dr. Jane Goodall proved it. While best known for her work with chimpanzees, she championed causes both global and local, including working to save grizzly bears in Yellowstone. Jane mobilized the global conservation movement. All of us who call this planet home owe her our gratitude. She was also my friend. I’ll miss her.”

-Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia Founder, 10/2/25

“”It seems these days everybody is so involved with technology that we forget that we’re not only part of the natural world, we’re an animal like all the others,’ Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, a conservation group, said last week during the Forbes Sustainability Leaders Summit in NYC. ‘We’re an animal like all the others. But we depend on it for clean air, water, food, clothing – everything.’

“And yet – “We’re destroying the planet,” she said.

“In a separate conversation with the Wall Street Journal last week, Goodall said the problem is the pernicious idea that economic development should come before the environment. In reality, we’re on a planet with finite resources, and if we exhaust them, it could spell our own end. ‘Humans are not exempt from extinction,’ Goodall said in the Wall Street Journal’s podcast, The Journal.

“’We have a window of time,’ Goodall, who’s authored more than two dozen books, said in The Journal. ‘But it’s not a very big window. If we don’t change the way we do things, the way we develop economically, then it will be too late.’”

-Benji Jones, “Vox News,” 10/2/2025

Robert Redford – Actor/Filmmaker/Conservationist

Photo credits: (l) Sundance Film Festival, (r) thesun.ie

“He will be remembered as one of the greatest storytellers in our country’s history. He elevated stories beyond mainstream. He not only cared about the environment, but he took all conceivable actions to protect it.”

-Bob Woodward, Instagram, 9/16/25

“”Robert Redford was a lifelong champion for wildlife conservation, a trailblazer on increasing awareness of climate impacts, and an unwavering advocate for conserving our beloved public lands,” [National Wildlife Foundation] CEO Collin O’Mara said in a statement to FOX Weather.

“In 2005, Redford and his son James Redford established The Redford Center, a nonprofit dedicated to environmental filmmaking.
“‘We felt that the pervasive, apocalyptic climate story we were hearing was helping create urgency and awareness of the climate problem, but it was not moving enough people into action,’ Redford wrote about the nonprofit.

“In 2017, The Redford Center released the HBO documentary “Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution,” directed by and starring James Redford.

“‘It is our most ambitious project and is a direct response to the climate crisis – answering the questions: What can we do? Where is the hope?’ Redford wrote.”

-Emilee Speck, foxweather.com, 9/16/25

FTJF Stewardship “Parties”

The Friends of The Jones Falls Stewardship Committee advocates for the responsible management of the Jones Falls Watershed and its connecting communities and ecosystems.

Our current focus is on Non-Native Invasive (NNI) Species removal along a roughly 1/2-mile stretch of the Jones Falls Trail between Baltimore Bicycle Works (A) and uphill of the Ma & Pa Railroad Roundhouse (B) – as an “entry point” into habitat restoration and improved trail experience.

From a $36,580 Chesapeake Bay Trust grant won last year, contractors are scheduled in October, 2025, to treat for the removal of maturing Tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) and Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) trees. Replacement native saplings will be installed in Spring, 2026.

Since November, 2023, we’ve hosted more than 50 NNI Species Removal “Parties,” engaging more than 400 volunteers, unburdening more than 830 trees of climbing, choking vines, removing over 500 non-native tree saplings (primarily Tree-of-heaven and Callery pear) and quantities of English ivy ground cover. Over 1,100 volunteer hours have been invested in this canopy-preserving work by caring weed warriors!

An detailed work Tracker is kept here; our long-term NNI area management plan here.

Come Party with us! Help us sustain and expand our NNI removal efforts. We have fun doing this stewardship work together. That’s why we call ’em Parties!

Sign up here.

Or contact melissa.rae.campanella@gmail.com for more information.

Your Bar Tab Will Support FTJF All Month!

All of August, Union Craft in Medfield is offering its new Roundup & Match program benefiting FTJF.

The official kickoff is Wednesday, August 6th, from 4:30 to 8pm where FTJF Board members will be on hand to talk about its 2-Year Strategic Plan for the Watershed and other important initiatives. Come get a brew and something to eat. 

And, by all means, please come see us! Bring your ideas to share!

Experiencing a Major Stream and Wetlands Restoration Project Along the Upper Jones Falls

Some FTJF Board and Stewardship Committee members and a couple of others hiked recently in and around the Upper Jones Falls with an owner of the Eccleston Mitigation site in Baltimore County where more than 10,000 linear feet of the stream and 15 acres of wetlands have been reclaimed under a state conservation easement program six-plus years in the making.

Incidentally, the Jones Falls above Lake Roland (the Upper Jones Falls) is classified as Use III, meaning “non-tidal cold water.” It is “suitable for the support and protection of naturally reproducing trout populations.” From Lake Roland down to the Inner Harbor (the Lower Jones Falls), the stream is Use IV, meaning “recreational trout stocking waters.” This segment suggests suitability “for recreational activities related to trout, likely including fishing for stocked trout.” (Reference: Maryland DEP.)

The restoration actions accomplished are a big enhancement to habitat for non-native Brown trout and other wild fish living in the stream. For one, better flowing stream water leads to higher oxygen levels in the water. For another, a healthy flow of nutrients and organic matter through streams has a positive effect on natural food webs.

From contractor JMT’s “Projects” page: “The entire site was deforested as recently as 60 years ago according to historical aerial photos, and multiple buried tile locations were identified within the project limits as evidence of purposefully drained wetlands to increase tillable farmland. Additionally, emerald ash borer destroyed much of the green ash canopy on which the stream reach formerly depended upon for thermal regulation.”

Further: “The principal restoration design goal for the mitigation site was to restore and stabilize the brown trout fishery on the Upper Jones Falls. Approximately 30 years of data have identified that brown trout are decreasing in numbers as the water temperature warms due to watershed development and climate change. The fact that this stream flows from Baltimore County and through the center of Baltimore City, and provides the future potential for the brown trout population to increase within the city limits, make it a desirable project for Baltimore County and Baltimore City.”

15,000 trees and shrubs were planted in support of the stream restoration/floodplain reconnection project.

-The Editors