More than 2,100 trees will be planted in urban parts of Montgomery County, thanks to grants from the Chesapeake Bay Trust in partnership with the state government and the utility Baltimore Gas and Electric, the Chesapeake Bay Trust announced last week.
The annual grant program was created through the Maryland General Assembly’s Tree Solutions Now Act of 2021, which calls for 5 million trees to be planted across Maryland by 2031, with 500,000 of them targeted for urban, underserved areas. The funds are distributed through the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Trust and are collected from multiple sources including the state’s Chesapeake Bay license plate program, which charges an extra fee for special vanity plates. This is the third year that grants have been distributed, according to a news release from the Chesapeake Bay Trust.
According to the release, the organizations receiving funding will be able to start planting the trees this fall, “concentrating on areas such as vacant lots or streets where native trees and resources are scarce … to reduce the urban heat island effect, filter polluted stormwater, mitigate the effect of carbon emissions, reduce energy consumption and therefore energy bills, and improve air quality.”
About half of those 2,100 trees will be planted in Rockville, where the city council has received $181,720 to plant 954 trees at RedGate Park, according to a news release about the grant program. The tree planting is part of a long-term goal to reforest RedGate Park, a former golf course that was turned into a public park at 14500 Avery Road.
The city’s plan is to plant 10,000 trees and shrubs over multiple years to revert the property to its natural habitat. It is maintained as a nature reserve by the city.
The Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection received $663,494 to plant 1,112 trees on residential properties and those owned by Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and the county government. They will be planted as part of the Tree Montgomery program, which offers free trees to provide shade in areas with limited tree canopy, according to the program’s website.
Live Peace Tech Corp., a county youth organization, received $29,653 to plant 49 trees in underserved areas of Takoma Park and surrounding areas in the county. According to the news release, the organization’s main goal for their project is to “cultivate a sustainable and verdant environment while instilling a deeper reverence for peace and nature.”
The organization works with youth to foster a passion for the environment, peacemaking and entrepreneurship, according to its website.
