Planning Department Expands Shades of Green program that provides free trees to eligible property owners in Montgomery County
SILVER SPRING, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is offering free trees to qualifying property owners in certain urban districts of Montgomery County. The Shades of Green program, which was launched in 2012 as a pilot program, is now expanding to some additional areas of the county with a high impervious surface cover in an effort to enhance the tree canopy cover.
The Shades of Green program provides free trees to qualifying property owners. The program is financed through the Forest Conservation Fund, which primarily includes contributions paid into the fund by developers when tree planting on their own development sites is impractical.
The expanded program includes property owners who live within the qualifying urban centers identified below. They are invited to participate in the program to receive free trees by filling out a form at: www.montgomeryplanning.org/shadesofgreen. To see if you are eligible for free trees, please go to the following link: http://www.montgomeryplanning.org/environment/shades_of_green.shtm
-Germantown Center
-Shady Grove
-Olney Center
-Glenmont
-Grosvenor
The program has already been active since 2012 for the following urban centers:
Silver Spring CBD
Montgomery Hills
Wheaton CBD
Flower/Piney Branch Urban District
Bethesda CBD
Friendship Heights Urban District
Westbard Urban District
To better understand Montgomery County’s tree cover, county planners analyzed the layer of leaves and branches that cover the ground when viewed from above. High-resolution aerial imagery revealed much lower tree canopy levels in urban areas than in more suburban neighborhoods. Increasing the number of trees in urban areas will increase the tree canopy cover resulting in numerous benefits.
More trees will help to:
-beautify urban districts
-reduce street temperatures
-cool buildings, thereby reducing energy demands
-support the local economy
-improve street ambiance and quality of place
-enhance water, air and habitat quality
-reduce greenhouse gas, and
-reduce the “heat island effect”
Learn more about eligibility and Shades of Green program details.