What an excit­ing sea­son it was for Stream ReLeaf!

This sea­son saw a jump in demand for the ReLeaf pro­gram — with three dozen res­i­dents plant­ing over 1,300 trees and shrubs.  With each of those 1,300 plants that were installed, the envi­ron­ment ben­e­fits.   How?   In immea­sur­able ways, but let’s start off with some of the biggies:

*Stream buffers help pre­vent stream­bank erosion.

*The veg­e­ta­tion traps much of the sed­i­ment, nutri­ents, and other pol­lu­tants, pre­vent­ing them from enter­ing our waterways.

*In addi­tion to sta­bi­liz­ing the soil, the plants uti­lize most of the trapped nutri­ents.  (Note: An effec­tive buffer will use of to 80% of the phos­pho­rous and nearly 90% of the nitro­gen, two of the biggest pol­lu­tants of the Chesa­peake Bay.)

These envi­ron­men­tal ben­e­fits are  com­ple­mented by count­less other ones, such as pro­vid­ing habi­tat and sup­ply­ing food for wildlife, and car­bon sequestration.

The instal­la­tion of these plants can also be looked at from an eco­nom­i­cal point of view.  At a time when many stormwa­ter man­age­ment facil­i­ties are in need of main­te­nance or repair, the addi­tional plants can help reduce the veloc­ity of the stormwa­ter, thereby allow­ing more of the water to be absorbed in to the earth.  Any reduc­tion in the vol­ume of water that these facil­i­ties need to han­dle helps from a man­age­ment and upkeep per­spec­tive.  And there are other eco­nom­i­cal ben­e­fits, too; for exam­ple, a reduc­tion in stream­bank ero­sion can help main­tain the value of a property.

The demand for this impor­tant pro­gram demon­strated the need to expand and become more user-friendly.  The intent is for the next sea­son to bring some changes to the pro­gram — both in terms of how orders are han­dled and funding.

First, this sum­mer we will be work­ing towards devel­op­ing a web­site for the pro­gram where peo­ple can research the trees and shrubs and place their orders.  This on-line order­ing will also facil­i­tate the agree­ment that res­i­dents are required to sign in order to receive their plants.

Sec­ond, due to the demand for plants, as well as the vital impor­tance of enhanc­ing the ripar­ian buffers in Howard County, the Admin­is­tra­tion has increased fund­ing for the pro­gram from $17,500 to $25,000.

Inter­ested in learn­ing more or even par­tic­i­pat­ing?  Check out the ReLeaf web­site.

I am look­ing for­ward to the fall sea­son and improv­ing our streams one plant at a time.