Locally and nationally, Howard County is a leader in increasing our energy independence, protecting our environment and reducing our carbon footprint through our fierce commitment to defending wildlife habitat, trees, and meadows, maintaining our natural and manmade ecosystems, and enhancing recreational opportunities. Together, we are taking steps to preserve the natural beauties of our community for generations to come.
Since taking office in December 2018, Ball has implemented and expanded numerous County programs and initiatives to protect and expand Howard County’s environment. In 2019, he unveiled major updates to Howard County’s Forest Conservation Act, modernizing and making it the strongest forest conservation law in the state.
That same year he also launched Howard County’s Annual Tree Giveaway, which distributes free native trees to residents each fall. In 2022, his administration unveiled Howard County’s “Trees for Bees” pollinator giveaway program, offering residents and non-profit groups native tree species beneficial to pollinators to plant. Trees for Bee is part of Howard County’s Office of Community Sustainability’s Howard County Bee City initiative. Through these and other tree programs, Howard County has given away more than 45,000 trees and shrubs to residents and organizations since Fiscal Year 2019.
This ‘Arbor Day’ is a great day to celebrate not just today’s planting of 100 trees, but this spring’s amazing surge of tree plantings in Howard County. Before last month, Howard County had planted some 86,000 trees under County Executive Ball’s leadership since 2019. With more than 48,500 trees being planted here in just the past few weeks, we have increased our total tree plantings to more than 134,500, representing an increase of about 56 percent just this year.
In addition to today’s tree planting, Recreation & Park staff and Corps members also spent the afternoon removing invasive vines from native trees in Rockburn Branch Park – West. In October 2024, Ball launched the County’s new Tree Savers Program. This innovative program utilizes volunteers to help save native trees on County parkland by cutting invasive vines from native trees to save and preserve the County’s tree canopy. Volunteer Tree Savers are taught how to identify and remove these invasive vine species that can smother and kill our native trees.
“The Department of Recreation & Parks continues to work on acquisition and land preservation to ensure our natural resources are protected for generations to come,” said Nick Mooneyhan, Director, Department of Recreation & Parks. “And we recently celebrated the milestone of preserving 10,000 acres in the county.”
Today’s planting brings Howard County one step closer to achieving its 50 percent tree canopy cover by 2030, an ambitious goal outlined in the County’s “HOWARD COUNTY CLIMATE FORWARD: Climate Action and Resiliency Plan.”