SU Students Draft Plan for Tree Canopy
Reprinted from the Salisbury Daily Times, Dec. 14, 2011:
SALISBURY -- An ongoing effort to protect the Wicomico River from runoff has local environmentalists using trees as a first line of defense. However, urban sprawl makes finding ways to expand the city's tree canopy a daunting task.
Throughout the semester now coming to an end, a group of Salisbury University students in George Whitehead's environmental psychology class have been working to identify areas of the city where additional tree planting would be
advantageous.
Joan Maloof -- a SU biology professor, tree expert and member of the Wicomico Environmental Trust -- directed the students in this effort.
"In the past, we haven't been as sensitive to tree planting as we should be, but I think that's getting ready to change now," Maloof said. "A lot of people, especially politicians, are realizing the connection between trees and the health of our waterways."
Maloof said students were not given strict guidelines regarding their chosen areas, apart from the land should be owned by the city and should not be near underground or overhead utilities.
The final report suggested 125 deciduous trees and 30 evergreen trees be planted in the proposed areas. Maloof said deciduous trees are ideal for stormwater runoff prevention because "they take a lot of water up through the roots and release it through the leaves and into the atmosphere. Some big trees can filter hundreds of gallons each day."
Because deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall, evergreens can pick up the slack.
These trees can range in cost from around $50 to more than $100, and it takes years for them to grow.
"A lot of the trees we are going to plant this year will be beneficial in the future, and a lot of trees we enjoy and appreciate today were planted by people who are gone now," Maloof said. "It's a very unselfish thing, to plant a tree."
John Groutt, a WET board member, said his organization is working to secure a grant from the state or federal government to purchase trees, which will be planted by volunteers. "Grants are out there, but we have to find them," Groutt said.
Whitehead said he has all of his classes complete a community service project, with most being environmentally focused. In the past, his students have installed bluebird boxes at Pemberton Historical Park and constructed a rain garden in Germantown, Md.
"I like students to take a concept or two from class and go out into the world to explore that concept," he said. "It's an opportunity for them to get to know their community."
The tree canopy study will likely benefit the city in its effort to fulfill requirements set forth by the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan, drafted by the Environmental Protection Agency as a way to enforce the Clean Water Act. The WIP is filtered down from the EPA to the states, counties and municipalities located in the Chesapeake Bay drainage area. The municipalities draft methods they can use to implement the WIP.
Jack Lenox, director of the Department of Planning & Zoning, said aerial photographs of Wicomico County and its municipalities have been sent to a group at the University of Vermont, who will send back an analysis outlining how the local government can undertake and pay for a tree canopy study.
"The study will determine what sort of tree coverage we have," Lenox said. "It will help us evaluate our goals and provide direction on how we can increase that tree cover."
Lenox added the state Forest Conservation Act will be used to cover some or all of the costs associated with the study. The law requires developers to protect a certain amount of forest or pay into a fund when trees cannot be retained on a construction site.
410-845-4630
Recent updates
