[MAIPC] Hello! from MAIPC Board Member Carole Bergmann

[Bergmann, Carole]

Hi MAIPC members,

I’m Carole Bergmann—one of your 2 Maryland Representatives on the MAIPC Board--and this is my week to introduce myself. I was one of the “Founding Board Members of MAIPC”, so I’ve been part of this group from its inception.

My fulltime “day job” for the past 25 years has been as County-wide Forest Ecologist and Field Botanist for the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission in Montgomery County, but I also regularly lead hikes and teach about natives and natural communities for the Audubon Naturalist Society and the Maryland Native Plant Society on nights and weekends. I chose ‘Early Succession in the Maryland Piedmont’ as the thesis topic for my master’s so that I could “have an excuse” to learn/study every plant in every field and scrub shrub area around me…

As for “how long I’ve been involved with the issue of invasive plants”???

The answer is “as long as I’ve been working for the Parks, I’ve been acutely aware of the problem”!!!

So much so that 19 years ago I started the first WEED WARRIOR program. I did this with the hope that by empowering citizen volunteers to work in Parks of their own choosing and on their own schedules, we might begin to not only educate the public, but to also generally raise the awareness level, and eventually spur “the powers that be” on to action = providing more funds, more staff, etc. to combat this problem… Over 1300 citizens have taken the time to become Certified Weed Warriors in Montgomery Parks, and volunteers have contributed over 91,000 hours to managing invasives in our Parks (as of March 2018), so I have some hope for the future…

Thank you so much for being part of MAIPC and for your interest in learning more about invasives. Conserving and preserving our natural habitats for the future is so very important!

Carole F. Bergmann
Forest Ecologist/Field Botanist
Park Planning and Stewardship Division
Montgomery Parks
Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission
12535 Milestone Manor Lane
Germantown, Maryland 20876
301-962-1348
Carole.Bergmann at montgomeryparks.org<mailto:Carole.Bergmann at montgomeryparks.org>


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