TreeBaltimore is a program aimed at increasing Baltimore City’s urban tree canopy by  engaging citizens and community groups in their neighborhoods to help plant and maintain trees that will ultimately benefit their communities. The program is funded by Constellation Energy with key partners made up of  TreeBaltimore, Baltimore City Recreation and Parks, the  Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay,  Blue Water Baltimore and  Parks & People Foundation.

Based on success rates at schools in Years 1 and 2, the focus in Year 3 was again on Baltimore City Schools and their surrounding communities. Schools were primarily identified according to their location in low tree canopy areas of the City, their proximity to communities with a high percentage of yard space for tree plantings, and with an interested school administration. Students Planting Trees at Robert W. Coleman and Frederick Douglass. Photo courtesy: http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/ Enviroscape Display for Students at Robert W. Coleman and Frederick Douglass. Photo Credit: http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/

For our two large planting events, New Era Academy HS/Southside/Woodson EMS in the fall of 2011 and Frederick Douglas HS/Robert Coleman ES in the spring of 2012, our partners worked with the school administrators and students to institute educational activities and promotion to the parents of the students during the weeks leading up to the day of the planting event. We also organized a tree planting day with the students on the Friday before the main community planting event.

We again teamed up with Shoppers Food Warehouse to distribute free trees to area residents. These events held in conjunction with our two main tree planting events were highly successful and generated a community wide tree planting atmosphere with residents moving back and forth from the tree planting sites to the giveaway sites.

Additionally 27 other schools were targeted for smaller planting events with students that included a tree give-a-way component to increase the number of trees being planted on private property. There were also several planting events at schools that were generated through organizational contacts that partners engaged on their own.

As a result, TreeBaltimore Program was able to plant over 3000 trees during Year 3 for a total of 5,792 trees through the three year project timeline. These trees were planted throughout parks, schools, recreational and institutional areas all over Baltimore City.

For questions on TreeBaltimore, please contact Lou Etgen, (443) 949 0575.