Program is in place to reduce tree loss and promote clean waterways in Frederick County
Frederick, MD (KB) Applications are now being accepted for Frederick County’s 2020 ReLeaf Program. The Office of Sustainability and Environmental Resources designed this reforestation program to provide stormwater control, reduce temperature impacts on streams, and increase wildlife habitat.
Project Manager, Linda Williamson, said that landowners who are accepted to the program will be compensated. “We offer a certain amount of dollars for that land based on the values and things that go with it,” said Williamson.
“If you accept that amount, the county places a permanent easement, very similar to a stormwater easement, on the property that we’re going to be planting the trees on,” she explained.
The permanent conservation easement will remain with the land, not the landowner. The county will provide the first five years of maintenance at no cost to the landowner to ensure successful planting efforts.
“The land does not have to have trees on it,” Williamson noted. “If there’s trees or a stream near it, that is helpful, but that is not a requirement of the program.”
She says not only does the Creek ReLeaf Program help the environment, it also helps landowners who have land that is unusable. Planting trees eliminates the need to mow.
Williamson says trees can be planted on both private and public land, and is an integral part of County Executive Jan Gardner’s efforts to reverse the trend of tree loss in Frederick County.
Applications will close on December 31st.
To learn more, visit: https://www.frederickcountymd.gov/reforest