200 Gathered for the Three February Watershed Strategic Plan Workshops

Thanks to many, many of you, the Jones Falls Watershed Strategic Plan is off to a great start with 200 enthusiastic and knowledgeable individuals attending the three listening sessions!

Rebecca Winer-Skonovd of Biohabitats, FTJF’s consultant firm, presented an overview of the Plan’s goals and processes at the three February events – also available on the Watershed website. Adam Lindquist of the Waterfront Partnership spoke at two of the sessions on the history of the Jones Falls, reminding everyone of the importance of this effort for the watershed that ultimately flows into the Inner Harbor.

Each of these introductory presentations was then followed by tabled breakout groups organized around the following Watershed topics: Water Quality & Stream Health; Habitat & Biodiversity; Access, Recreation & Public Space; Land Use, Infrastructure & Flooding; and, History, Culture & Community Stewardship. Illustrative maps relating to each were at the tables along with a brainstorming facilitator and scribe.

Participants were assigned to two of their preferred topics among the five. Survey forms were completed as a means of starting the 45-minute facilitated sessions, then turned in afterwards. The ones I participated in were very exciting, reinforcing for me the public interest in and importance of this effort. In all, we received over 150 survey forms that Rebecca and her team are presently reviewing and analyzing.

I concluded each of the sessions with a reminder that this is the first-ever resident-led planning effort that will inform both City and County elected officials of the importance of and ways to protect and enhance the Watershed for generations to come.

Many well-deserved thanks go to the hosting stakeholder organizations, the Irvine Nature Center, MICA and The Park School, for providing the meeting space and session facilitators!

We will be putting on follow-up sessions this fall to share draft recommendations and gather further input, so please let’s stay in touch.

-Al Barry, FTJF Board Member, Jones Falls Strategic Plan Chair, ababalt@yahoo.com

Jones Falls Gateway – Design Alternatives Presentation

A capacity crowd of around 125 at MICA’s Fred Lazarus IV Auditorium attended the Jan. 15 presentation and Q/A about the Jones Falls Gateway designs. Matt Hugel of MICA and Mark Mullen of RK&K Engineering presented.

Mr. Hugel told the audience that over 500 surveys had been collected at Central Baltimore community association meetings and festivals. Here are a couple of the survey questions-

Sample #1 – How comfortable are you moving through this corridor?

  • About 44% of people walking and 47% of people biking or scooting reported feeling uncomfortable or unsafe. By comparison, only 13% of drivers felt that way.
    • The street is currently working best for the people who are most protected, and least well for the people who are most vulnerable.
    • The status quo of the Jones Falls Trail is not working, especially for casual users or people who are new to the trail.

Sample #2 – What would make you more likely to walk, bike, or roll along this section of the trail?

  • Overwhelmingly, people prioritized safety, separation from traffic, better crossings, and slower vehicle speeds.
    • Importantly, many respondents explicitly asked for less vehicle dominance in the corridor.

Mr. Mullen walked the audience through the concept drawings. Thereafter, reps of his team met attendees at breakout tables.

The preferred alignment for the 10-13′ shared-used path, illustrated here as the “Proposed Treatment” for the draft 30% design drawings, should be finalized in the approved 30% design plan to be released to the public later this spring. 

-The Editors

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. Register here:

  • 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
  • Middle Falls (spanning Northern Parkway to I-695): Saturday, February 28th from 1- 4pm at the Park School of Baltimore

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 Letter re. Baltimore County 2005 Sanitary Sewer Overflow Consent Decree Compliance & Accountability

Baltimore County Sanitary Sewer Consent Decree Compliance Letter 11-19-25Download

FTJF Modified Sanitary Sewer Consent Decree Letter to the Baltimore City DPW Director

DPW Phase II Consent Decree Extension Oppose Letter 11-13-25Download

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 65 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! We typically meet from 9:30am-12:30pm the first and third Saturday of the month year-round. 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.