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<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Hi MAIPC members,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">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…
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">As for “how long I’ve been involved with the issue of invasive plants”???
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">The answer is “as long as I’ve been working for the Parks, I’ve been
<b>acutely aware</b> of the problem”!!! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">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…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Thank you so much for being part of MAIPC and for
<u>your</u> interest in learning more about invasives. Conserving and preserving our natural habitats for the future is so very important!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#212121">Carole F. Bergmann</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#212121">Forest Ecologist/Field Botanist</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#212121">Park Planning and Stewardship Division</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:#2F5496">Montgomery Parks</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:#2F5496">Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#212121">12535 Milestone Manor Lane</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#212121">Germantown, Maryland 20876</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#212121">301-962-1348</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><a href="mailto:Carole.Bergmann@montgomeryparks.org" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#0563C1">Carole.Bergmann@montgomeryparks.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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