Today remaining old growth forest is rare in the eastern United States. One study showed that roughly 58 percent of land area of the contiguous United States no longer supports native vegetation. xxvii xxviii Washington, D.C. was among the jurisdictions with the greatest decline in percentage of urban tree cover each year between 2009 and 2014. Montgomery County is directly adjacent to the Nation’s Capital, where this decline has occurred. Environmental trail blazers like Rachel Carson, once a resident of Silver Spring, can be credited for raising public awareness as to the importance of trees and other critical environmental issues as early as 1962. It is up to us as individuals to make sure that Rachel Carson’s legacy will continue. We can do our part by caring for our own trees, the part of the Montgomery County tree canopy we can control most easily. Think of your private property as a conduit to Chesapeake Bay, one of our most valuable environmental and economic resources. Our trees have a collective role in intercepting polluted stormwater runoff and improving the health of the Bay. You can look up your own watershed at the DEP website.
The chart above shows a higher percentage of net loss of tree canopy in Montgomery County, leading up to 2018. By increasing our local canopy, in many cases on our private property, Montgomery County residents can play a large part in meeting the regionwide goal of adding 2,400 acres of urban tree canopy by 2025. Data source for graphic: Chesapeake Bay Program. Analysis by the Chesapeake Bay Journal. All numbers, except for DC, are rounded to the nearest 100.
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