Education & Advocacy

• Education

Our native tree selection guide continues to be available online and for sale at TPSS Coop and the Nature Forward bookstore. Note: FONTT sells the guide to retailers at our printing costs and so makes no profit on guide sales.

FONTT’s main education event has been to bring the University of Maryland Insect Zoo to the TPSS Coop Earth Day Celebration. The FONTT table features a Maryland’s Favorite Caterpillars display and contest.

Going forward, our priorities will be educating people about

1. why we should protect biodiversity in our yards and city, and
2. providing practical advice about creating habitat in yards.

• Advocacy

Advocacy for a city native tree policy was FONTT’s original and sole purpose. The principal accomplishments from this work to-date have been persuading the City Council to make a focus on native trees into a city policy through including

1. a goal for increasing biodiversity through a focus on native trees in a 2020 urban forest resolution.
2. requirements in the revised city tree ordinance for (1) a “focus on native trees,” (2) a tree species list to regulate which species can be planted by the city or in fulfillment of tree replacement requirements, and (3) an annual urban forest report that includes statistics on the number and percentage of native trees planted.

We have not been successful in persuading the city to adopt a definition of “native trees” as trees native to Maryland’s local ecoregions. The inability to reach consensus seems to stem from differing views on the purpose behind the policy to focus on native trees. To us, this signals the need to work more on educating people about biodiversity loss and how (and which) native plants can help address it. (Read more about why to protect biodiversity.)

Native Landscaping

• Biannual native plant sales

FONTT organizes native plant sales, in spring and fall, for FONTT members, subscribers, and friends. We source most of these plants from Bona Terra, a Maryland nursery that specializes in plants native to Maryland and Virginia and particularly in local ecotypes of those species. Since our first sale in spring 2023, our 40-plus customers have purchased pots and plugs of more than 100 native plant species, including 30 ecotypes.

• Native Yard Advisers

Content coming soon

Website & Communications

• Website

The website was originally created to make the FONTT Native Tree Selection Guide available to the public.

An early expansion of the website was to add the ongoing monthly blog, Takoma Natives, on native plants, trees and yards in and around Takoma Park. In line with our strategic focus, blog posts frequently showcase residents who have improved and maintained their yards through plants and practices that support nature better.

Today, the purpose of the website is primarily as a tool to help FONTT members provide their neighbors with just-in-time advice and information. Struggling to remove liriope? Don’t know how to get started with native plants? Wonder which native plants would thrive in your yard? We can text you a link to more information (here and here and here) as we share our own experiences in dealing with these issues.

• Listservs and Social Media

Our POSTer team posts notices (hence the name, POSTer) about FONTT and its mission on listservs and Facebook Groups serving Takoma Park and area neighborhoods. Each notice highlights a single topic and almost always contains a link to the FONTT website for more information.

• Email Distribution Lists

FONTT has eschewed a newsletter in favor of very short single topic emails sent to subscribers and members 1-3 times per month. The idea is to make it easy for readers to quickly absorb the message in a minute or two. Those people interested in more information can subscribe on the Stay in Touch page.