Soldiers Delight Conservation at National Night Out!
The weather was ideal for National Night Out 2026, an annual event celebrated on the first Tuesday of every August since 1984 as a day for local families to get acquainted with their neighbors, learn about nearby businesses, and interact with community police and fire departments. Residents walked from their homes, many of which back up to the Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area wilderness, to the grassy "Central Park" area of the New Town community in Owings Mills. They danced to a DJ spinning tunes, sampled restaurant fare from local businesses, and enjoyed an ideal summer evening.
Beneath a large white tent kindly provided by the Owings Mills New Town Community Association (OMNTCA), board members and volunteers with Soldiers Delight Conservation, Inc. (SDCI) set out items of interest for children and adults. As always, we relish the opportunity to teach community members about the unique and critically important Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area, a habitat bordering many of the homes that make up the Owings Mills New Town community.
SDCI was especially pleased this year to have so many enthusiastic volunteers to ensure every visitor to our booth received our full attention. Pictured from left to right are volunteer Waiva Worthley, SDCI vice president Lynell Tobler, volunteer Frank Wisniewski, volunteer and master naturalist Natalie Snyder, Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service education specialist Edwin Guevara, volunteer James Bartlett, volunteer and master naturalist Melissa Heckrotte, and SDCI president Laura Van Scoyoc.
Probably the single most important outreach message we impart at SDCI is to implore neighboring residents to purchase only native plants with which to landscape their yards. The dangers of planting non-native, invasive species of plants, vines, shrubs, flowers and trees, many of which can be purchased at any local garden center or big box store, cannot be overstated. Thankfully, Maryland recently passed a law prohibiting the sale of an important list of invasive, non-native plants anywhere in the state. The first wave of restrictions took effect January 15, 2026, targeting plants like Callery pear, burning bush, and Japanese barberry, while restrictions on the sale of species like English and Atlantic ivy became effective July 15, 2026.
Unfortunately, stores have until 2027 (for some plants) and 2028 (for others) to deplete their stocks. So until all the listed species are banned and even afterward (since not all invasive, non-native plants were included in the law), to our target audience, the residents in the Owings Mills New Town community whose properties are near or adjacent to the Soldiers Delight wildland, our message remains urgent: the seeds from common but invasive ornamentals, groundcovers and landscape specimens, several of which were displayed at the SDCI booth, are eaten (and later expelled) by birds, caught in animal fur, and carried on the wind out of neighborhood yards and into Soldiers Delight NEA and other wildlands, where they sprout and spread with abandon, crowding out irreplaceable native flora.
In addition to educating our neighbors about invasive plant species, SDCI displayed a bulletin board describing the serpentine oak savannah ecosystem that Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area is known for. A narrow strip of land stretching south from Nova Scotia to Alabama, most of the serpentine barrens has long since been covered over by development. But here, at Soldiers Delight NEA, the unique attributes of a globally rare ecosystem are on full display for all to see and enjoy. We also featured a bulletin board that shows how littering has a lasting negative impact on fragile native ecosystems like SDNEA.
On our tables, SDCI displayed a variety of items for visitors interested in learning more about the fascinating geological makeup of the serpentine barrens at Soldiers Delight. Many children (and adults!) delighted in feeling the immense weight of a rock of chromite -- so much heavier than a "normal" rock would be!
But our booth was not all about matters of great weight and deep concern. One of the most enjoyable activities that SDCI offers at our outreach displays is an opportunity for children to don a water-filled bladder-pack and take turns shooting spray at small targets in front of a board of painted flames, simulating the actions our highly-skilled burn teams employ when conducting prescribed burns at Soldiers Delight NEA, an annual program necessary to keep the flora and fauna of this unique habitat from being choked out by invasive vegetation.
While children gleefully squirted water at our faux flames, SDCI board members and volunteers explained to their parents and passers-by the important history of Maryland's "burn culture," when early Native Americans lit fires to herd deer for hunting, inadvertently preventing invasive vegetation from crowding out the unusual and, in some cases, globally rare plants that call the serpentine barrens home. Pictured at left are 15-year-old Owings Mills resident Riley Elias, left, and her friend, 15-year-old Sloane Ferguson, also of Owings Mills.
Not to be outdone, SDCI volunteers James Bartlett of Reisterstown and Ben Giraldo of Baltimore, both pictured at right, donned the heavy water-bladder packs and took their best shots at the target of flames.
The Owings Mills New Town neighborhood common area, an expanse of green space with a community garden, swimming pool, and dog park, enjoyed a steady stream of happy residents enjoying National Night Out's various offerings. Free slices from nearby Ledo's Pizza, snow cones from Kona Ice, and hamburgers and hotdogs provided by the Owings Mills New Town Community Association, rounded out the evening's fun and tasty fare. Even McGruff, the Baltimore County Crime Dog, made an appearance at the event, to the delight of children -- and SDCI vice president Lynell Tobler. McGruff was escorted by Baltimore County police officer "Chris," who said that many years ago he was a seasonal naturalist at Patapsco Valley State Park in Baltimore County.
Our SDCI volunteers greeted many neighborhood families during the two-hour event, attended by an estimated 200 people this year. Many of those neighbors visited our booth! The Owings Mills New Town Community Association’s National Night Out is always a festive occasion -- and SDCI was certainly happy to be invited back for our thirteenth year!
