Stream Relief in Howard County

Last week I had 15 lovely sapling trees delivered to my home by the Natural Resources Division of the Department of Recreation & Parks. This weekend will be spent planting them along the banks of the stream that runs along our property.

We were lucky enough to qualify for Howard County’s Stream ReLeaf Program.  The program is designed to augment stream buffers, which are the protective coverings of trees, shrubs and other vegetation along the banks of a stream, by providing free native trees and shrubs to qualifying homeowners.

In return, the homeowner commits to planting the trees and shrubs on their property within 75 feet of the stream, which my family will be doing this weekend.

Stream ReLeaf is part of the , which tries to increase forest cover and stream buffers on residential property. Trees and shrubs planted along these streams help prevent erosion, provide vegetative cover and trap nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, which are two major pollutants of the Chesapeake Bay. 

Program Manager, Megan Handshu tells me that her personal experience with the program has been great. “It is something that the county is very proud of and that the residents can truly enjoy and benefit from. The program gives people a feeling that they really can help their environment. If everyone thought about helping to stabilize even the smallest stream running through or near their property, we could really make a big difference in the quality of water coming from Howard County and running into the Bay. It is a great example of ‘think global, act local’.” 

Handshu is a 2005 University of Maryland graduate with a B.S. in Geography and her favorite story of Stream ReLeaf’s success has been working with a resident who owns a 16 acre farm off of Folly Quarter Road. 

“She had already started a mass overhaul of her property” Handshu explains.  “She cleared out the invasive species choking her forest and was working hard to improve the quality of the stream running to and from her pond. We were able to help her in her endeavor to improve the quality of 580 feet of stream and an almost 1-acre pond by providing trees and planting them for her. We planted 200 last spring and another 200 this fall. Her survival rates from the spring were awesome, despite the attempts of a pesky beaver to thwart us. Not only did she improvise shelters for every plant, but watered every single one weekly! We were so happy to be able to provide shelters to the Stream ReLeaf participants who ordered trees this fall, but I’m sure she was the especially grateful!”

The program had 52 participants and a total of 1,126 plants given away this fall, up from 29 participants and 654 plants in the spring.

Integral to the efforts were Scott Bowen and Dave Toney, who delivered plants to every corner of the county. Handshu and her team also had the help of a summer intern, Lindsey Nolan, a sophomore at Virginia Tech, who helped check many of the properties to ensure that they were within 75 feet of a stream.

According to the County’s literature, the ABCs of Stream Buffers (as illustrated in the drawing) are as follows:

A. Stream Buffers help prevent stream bank erosion. The vegetative cover dissipates the energy and friction of the moving water, and the roots help hold the soil in place. Such vegetation also plays an important role in reducing water temperature — an important aspect of fish habitat.

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

C. In addition to stabilizing the soil, the plants utilize most of the trapped nutrients. In fact, an effective buffer will use up to 80% of the phosphorous and nearly 90% of the nitrogen, two of the biggest pollutants of the Chesapeake Bay.

A homeowner is eligible to participate in the program if he or she commits to plant­ing a min­i­mum of a dozen trees or shrubs within 75 feet of a stream (but not in a util­ity right-of-way).  The program takes place twice a year and if you are wondering if you’re eligible, you may contact Megan Handshu at mhandshu@howardcountymd.gov or call 410-313-6205.

The Plant (It) Green Program is currently being re-structured with the intention of increasing the number of residents who would be eligible, and those details are still being worked out.

This program was initiated in 2003 as part of the implementation of the Little Patuxent River Watershed Restoration Action Strategy, and has expanded to include all of Howard County.