Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have “greener” lawns, in both senses of the word? The good news is there are several simple practices that will benefit your lawn as well as the environment, especially in areas where rainfall is in short supply. Here are a few ways to minimize water usage when caring…
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) founded in 1992, by environmentalists, community leaders and businesses, following the failure of the Rio Earth Summit to produce an international agreement to stop deforestation. The first FSC general assembly gathered in 1993 in Toronto with a mission to create a set of voluntary, market-based tools to improve responsible forestry practices…
It may feel like deja vu; new, promising plant species will sustainably replace inefficient species to reduce carbon emissions, maintain biodiversity and save the world! Okay that may be a bit hyperbolic but the gist is the same; new species, new crops, new product to drastically change a former environmentally unfriendly material into a green…
In a world moving towards sustainability, improving urban tree cover can provide numerous benefits both environmental and social. Tree canopy in an urban environment will reduce summer peak temperatures, increase efficiency of heating and cooling buildings, improve water quality and curtail erosion. Additionally, lush urban tree cover increases aesthetic appeal and value; all of these factors…
This week my colleague Dexter Locke and I had the opportunity to present at the DE / MD APA 2014 Regional Planning Conference. We presented on the suite of urban tree canopy tools available to planners. While many tree canopy goal efforts have focused disproportionately on tree planting, strategies for all variables in the equation below…
The greatest threat to the sustainability of this country’s forests and probably the number one challenge for land managers is not forest fires, as may be perceived by the public, but insect infestations and the spread of disease. Insects and disease do not get the media coverage that fires do, but the National Report on…
Trees and forests are critical for proper functioning of a watershed, and the quality and health of the watershed is critical for wildlife and humans who depend upon it. The proportion of forest within a watershed is a determining factor in water quality and the health of aquatic ecosystems. A watershed is the area that drains…
Baltimore City is in the process of conducting a series of public stakeholder meetings to support development of a Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) to achieve targets under its MS4 permit related to the Chesapeake Bay TMDL (pollution diet). The Chesapeake Bay Program learned a long time ago that because of stormwater runoff, land cover has…
We are working with the US Forest Service Northern Research Station and the US Forest Products Lab on an initiative that hopes to answer that question positively. The Baltimore Wood Project web site can found here. It describes the various components of the project, some of which we’ve talked about here previously. project COUNT, by…
The US EPA, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and the Chesapeake Bay Trust recently partnered to provide $3.7 million in grants to 34 organizations through the Green Streets, Green Towns, Green Jobs Initiative (G3). The purpose of the G3 grant program is to help add green space and reduce stormwater runoff by using green…
