Empowering people to restore nature: More urban trees, please! - Chesapeake Bay Trust Skip to main content

Empowering people to restore nature: More urban trees, please!

Some change is inevitable. Change comes with a new season or school year. Some change is personal. It can be defined by goals or growth. And some change can be prevented. We can mitigate the effects of climate change with collective action to protect our natural resources and communities.

In 2021, the Maryland General Assembly passed the Tree Solutions Now Act to respond to the severity of climate change. The legislation recognized that trees are a cost-effective and efficient solution to remove carbon dioxide from the air along with many other environmental, social and economic benefits.

Urban trees planting

“That piece of legislation said we’re going to plant 5 million trees all over the state and 500,000 of them have to be in urban, underserved areas,” explained Chesapeake Bay Trust Senior Program Officer, Lianna Gomori-Ruben. “The Chesapeake Bay Trust was tapped to run that piece as a grant program because we have a track record of engaging community-based groups to do stewardship and tree planting work themselves.”

Enter the Urban Trees Grant Program to empower community members to take action against climate change. Now in its third year of the grant program, 114 projects have been awarded with over 75,000 native trees planted in historically underserved areas across Maryland to green communities and enhance quality of life, human health, and community livability. Grantees are leading tree plantings to fight climate change in their own communities, improving air quality and reducing urban heat island effect.

Defensores de la Cuenca is one of the Urban Trees awardees helping to green Maryland. Translated to “watershed defenders, we’re an organization that works to engage Latinos and Spanish speakers in watershed-related issues,” shared Executive Director and Co-Founder, Abel Olivo. In 2024, Abel and his organization received $926,667 to plant 1,857 trees primarily in Prince George’s County and the surrounding areas. Their efforts will also train 20 Embajadores through a series of virtual and hands-on workshops to raise awareness about the importance of trees.

“The Bay Trust has been tremendous for Defensores. We got our first mini grant probably five years ago now,” reflected Abel. “Here we are today. More funds, bigger impact of course to do the tree canopy extension through the Urban Trees Program.”

Urban trees planting

Defensores is one of 28 awardees helping to plant over 17,500 trees in this round of funding. As Governor Moore shared in this press release, “With each new tree planted in neighborhoods across our state, we will reduce air pollution, combat climate change, and boost quality of life for Marylanders. This is what partnership looks like – and I want to thank the Chesapeake Bay Trust, BGE, and all of our partners for getting us here.”

The Urban Trees Grant Program is funded by the State of Maryland and BGE: An Exelon Company. Funding over nine years will be distributed by the Chesapeake Bay Trust to communities, neighborhoods, civic groups, schools, and others who commit to planting trees in underserved regions as defined in the legislation. Awards are reserved for urban census tracts with low median household income levels, with high unemployment, or that were historically redlined or for public housing projects.

“The Chesapeake Bay Trust is a really important partner because their program enables us to reach our 10% or 500,000 trees in urban underserved areas goal,” said Marie Panday, Trees Data & Program Officer with the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Urban trees planting

“We have a lot of trees to plant between now and 2031,” exclaimed Lianna. “We want as many community members here in Maryland involved in this work to make their communities greener and more beautiful and full of trees.”

The Urban Trees Grant Program is now accepting applications for the 2025-2026 round of funding. Interested applications can learn more and apply here.

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