{"id":2010,"date":"2006-03-31T02:58:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-31T02:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sustainablog.greenoptions.com\/2006\/03\/31\/baltimore-plans-for-urban-forest\/"},"modified":"2006-03-31T02:58:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-31T02:58:00","slug":"baltimore-plans-for-urban-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/baltimore-plans-for-urban-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"Baltimore Plans for Urban Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Via commonground<\/a>, news<\/a> that Baltimore, Maryland, has announced a plan to double the city’s tree canopy in the next 30 years:<\/p>\n More trees in Baltimore could mean lower energy costs, higher property values and many environmental perks, including cleaner water and air, according to local, state and federal forestry officials.<\/p>\n Across Maryland, municipalities are reverting to pastoral layouts after decades of blacktop school yards and concrete plazas.<\/p>\n “Baltimore is setting a national standard,” said Robin Morgan, assistant director of forest management for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service….<\/p>\n A recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that the city’s canopy, beyond its aesthetic value, saves Baltimoreans $3.3 million a year in energy costs by acting as a basin for storm waters, a bulwark against wind and a shade umbrella. Trees also cool the air around them through the evaporation of water from their leaves.<\/p>\n Another forest service study found that houses in neighborhoods with trees have higher property values than those in neighborhoods without.<\/p>\n Baltimore’s trees remove about 10,800 metric tons of carbon from the air and water annually, according to the study.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, now I’ve got that John Denver “Plant a Tree” song<\/a> running through my head (yikes!), but what a great reminder that, despite some of the wonderful technological advances we’ve made towards a more sustainable future, nature’s often already equipped to do the job…<\/p>\n Categories: trees<\/a>, urban<\/a>, development<\/a>, Baltimore<\/a>, Maryland<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Via commonground, news that Baltimore, Maryland, has announced a plan to double the city’s tree canopy in the next 30 years: More trees in Baltimore could mean lower energy costs, [ … ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":17070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n