​​​The Maryland Forest Service has had a busy 2020 Spring tree planting season. Our forestry staff worked with private landowners this year to plant over 508,000 seedlings on 1,030 acres across the state.

If you are a landowner considering tree planting for Spring 2021, you should contact your county Forest Service office now to make plans for next spring!

Maryland has a lot of agricultural land and rolling meadows where future forest stands are regularly being planted by our forestry staff in coordination with private landowners. The combined total seedlings involved in two the spring plantings below? 23,544!!​​

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Tree plantings are typically spaced with 8-feet between each tree or shrub and 10-feet between the planting rows. The row width is to accommodate for easier mowing maintenance, which is vital to the success of every planting. As these trees and shrubs rise above the shelters, a canopy will form and a landowner’s mowing demands are reduced dramatically.

The tree seedling in this view looking inside a tree shelter is how many trees planted by the Maryland Forest Service starts in the ground. These seedlings are available to the general public at John S. Ayton State Forest Tree Nursery in Preston, MD.

It’s often about the water, even in the field of forestry. Riparian forest buffers, also known as streamside forests, are amazing natural filters for Maryland’s waterways. Capturing the nutrient-laden runoff and sediment bound for our waters with their roots, this young forest will boost water quality as the growing seasons progress.

Though they may look identical, the two planting sites below in Queen Anne’s County were planted under two different, yet equally beneficial, programs for landowners and the land: Healthy Forests Healthy Waters and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.

Learn more here

• https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Documents/CREP_Start-to-Finish.pdf
• https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/habitat/milo.aspx

Or contact your local forester to get more information about these opportunities for Maryland landowners! ​​​