Free Trees Available To Baltimore County Residents

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — In the hopes of reaching a robust goal of 5,000 new trees planted before Earth Day 2021, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski wants homeowners and property owners to convert underutilized lawn space into wooded areas in an effort to reduce greenhouse gasses and increase the county’s tree canopy.

Residents can use the county's free tree-planting programs where county crews will plant a significant expanse of trees at no cost to landowners.

“We have a responsibility to build a cleaner, greener and more sustainable Baltimore County for this generation—and the next,” Olszewski said in a statement. “Coming together to plant 5,000 trees will help us combat climate change by removing about a quarter-million pounds of greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere every year. In the process, we will also strengthen our environmental and storm water resiliency and help beautify neighborhoods across our county.”

County landowners can apply now for trees to be planted at no cost to them next spring through the county’s Backyard Trees or Turf to Trees programs, depending on the amount of land available for plantings. Plantings range from a small stand of 20 trees on a tenth of an acre, up to a large multi-acre reforestation, converting turf to environmentally beneficial forested ecosystems.

The Backyard Trees program requires a minimum planting area of only one-tenth of an acre. This program was created recently to make reforestation more accessible to homeowners with less than an acre of available land. The Turf to Trees program is intended for larger tracts of open land, with 200 trees planted per acre to create rural reforestations, and it includes three years of free maintenance.

Interested landowners can learn more at the Reforestation and Tree Planting Programs page. These programs focus on reforestation and do not include the planting of evergreens or small groupings of trees intended to provide landscaping or privacy screening. The Forestry Management Division of the Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability manages these programs and can be contacted at ForestManagement@baltimorecountymd.gov.

Residents who plant trees themselves are invited to record the locations on the county’s Environmental Reporter Web Application, an online tool that enables the public to help the county track environmental data, including locations where people plant trees and install rain barrels. Trees recorded on the Environmental Reporter will be counted in the county’s target of 5,000 new trees for Earth Day 2021.