county government are given priority. Priority funding areas are home to 98% of the county’s residents, but just 36% of the county’s tree canopy. xii Applications for fall plantings are
accepted starting February 1 of each year, while applications for spring plantings are accepted beginning October 1 of each year. Property owners and representatives can apply for up to six trees per season and can request trees from a list of 20 native species. Reforest Montgomery’s native tree coupon can be used at participating nurseries and garden centers in the county to receive a $50 off on any qualifying native tree with a retail value of at least $75. This $50 coupon can be combined with the State of Maryland’s $25 Marylanders Plant Trees coupon for $75 off the price of a tree that qualifies for both programs. There are several resources available on the Reforest Montgomery website for property owners looking to plant trees themselves using the discount, including a guide for planting, and caring for new trees, and a species list with information about the unique needs and characteristics of qualifying native species.
If you own property in Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve, you might be interested in reforesting a portion of your property for free through Re-Leaf the Reserve, a program of Reforest Montgomery and a partnership between the Montgomery Planning Department and the nonprofit Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA). Re-Leaf the Reserve is specifically for reforesting the county’s valuable 93,000- acre Agricultural Reserve and is MCA’s practical response to the growing climate change crisis. Two hundred trees per acre makes a forest. A forest can absorb 68 tons of carbon - or the equivalent of taking 17 cars off the road for a year. xiii As of this writing, Re-Leaf the
Reserve had reforested 15 acres of property. Property owners with an established forest conservation easement and at least 0.25 acre of unforested area, and property owners with 1 acre or more open space adjacent to a stream or existing forest, who are willing to establish a new Category I conservation easement, are eligible to apply for free reforestation through the program. Applications and planting opportunities in four priority watersheds and special protection areas are given precedence, though property owners outside of these areas are also encouraged to apply. (You can locate the watershed in which your home or business is located by visiting the Planning Department atlas of watershed and related information at mcatlas.org/watersheds or visit the county Department of Environmental Protection website.) The program aims to expand forests by planting forest edges, replacing forest lost due to invasive pressure, pests, storms, or heat stress, reforesting stream buffers, and reducing mowed areas. Both Tree Montgomery and Reforest Montgomery require applications to be submitted (except for the Reforest Montgomery native tree discount program). If your application to the Reforest Montgomery free tree program is not accepted by that program, Tree Montgomery may be able to provide you with free trees. Not all programs are available to all county residents. For example, the Cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg are ineligible because those areas do not participate in the county Tree Canopy or Forest Conservation Laws which both fund replanting.
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