Harford County People Love Nurturing Trees

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland Forestry Board recently announced the winners of the 2007 PLANT – People Loving And Nurturing Trees – Awards. A dozen Harford County entities received PLANT awards this year, including local governments, schools, community organizations and even military installations.

People Loving And Nurturing Trees (PLANT) is a statewide award program to recognize communities for their tree planting and tree care efforts. Communities range from schools, homeowner organizations and parks to metropolitan areas, cities and towns.

There are four PLANT award levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Green. Successive levels require more formalized tree care activities. Although a community may remain at any level for an unlimited number of years, the goal of the program is to encourage a community to grow through the award levels by strengthening their commitment and care for their urban trees.

Here’s the list of winners, their location and their award level for 2007.

 
Here’s the full 2007 PLANT Awards press release:

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Maryland Forestry Board Foundation are proud to announce the 2007 PLANT – People Loving and Nurturing Trees – Award recipients.

“Investing to increase tree cover is one of the best investments we can make to ensure a sustainable future for Marylanders and the Chesapeake Bay,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “The public and private partners who participate in this important effort are doing a great public service, stepping up to be part of the solution in addressing environmental challenges such as air quality, water quality, and climate change.

For 2007, DNR and the Maryland Forest Service are proud to recognize 44 communities for their achievement of the highest level green awards. Nineteen of these were in Southern Maryland, 15 in Central Maryland, 6 on the Eastern Shore, and 4 in Western Maryland. Over 70 communities in Southern Maryland were recognized for their community forest management.

“The sheer number of participants in the PLANT program is crucial to the long-term sustainability of Maryland Forests,” said Steve Koehn, Director of Maryland DNR’s Forest Service. “But this number is only one part of the story, as a major goal of the program is to assist communities as they increase the intensity of their urban forestry efforts and achieve higher award levels.”

Since 1991, the PLANT Awards Program has recognized towns, communities, homeowner associations, schools, and government facilities – large or small – that manage their community forests for a healthy environment. The 2007 PLANT awards were presented in April to 125 communities across Maryland for tree-related activities such as tree plantings, beautification projects including trees, tree maintenance and care, education, creation of tree inventory or working with a horticulturist or an arborist for the betterment of the community.

The awards are given on four levels – bronze, silver, gold and green – based on the community’s level of involvement in organizing, planning, planting, care and citizen action. In 1994 there were a total of 30 participating communities, and following programmatic revisions in 1996, the number of PLANT communities skyrocketed from 67 in 1998 to 161 in 2000.

A full listing of the 2007 PLANT Award recipients can be viewed online at http://www.dnr.state.md.us/forests/programs/plantinfo.html.

The Maryland PLANT Program was established as a cooperative effort between the Maryland Community Forest Council (MCFC) and the Maryland Forest Service. The program’s goal is to help local communities step through the process of developing an on-going urban forestry program. By reinforcing small, initial efforts, communities begin to “adopt” their local tree resources and once engaged, become invested in maintaining the health and survival of the tree canopy. As communities strive for higher award levels, and tasks become more complex, evolving into tree inventories and management plans, MCFC and the Forest Service can provide technical support and volunteer assistance to aid in the development of a formalized urban forestry program.

Applications for the 2008 Maryland Urban and Community Forest Committee PLANT Awards may be submitted at any time before December 15, 2008. For more information, please visit http://www.dnr.state.md.us/forests/programs/plantinfo.html, or contact Terry Galloway at tgalloway@dnr.state.md.us, or 410-260-8510.