In the past month over 80 Stream-Link Education Water Watcher volunteers planted a total of 550 trees along waterways in Frederick County. Tomorrow (11/21/15) we plan to have nearly 60 volunteers to plant 300!
Funded through the Chesapeake Bay Trust and in partnership with LCPF and the City of Frederick, Stream-Link planted 500 trees at Rivermist Park along the Monocacy River and near Dearbought Community during 3 volunteer events. This particular site had been overtaken with Japanese Hops, a nasty invasive species that kills trees. Japanese Hops prefers direct sunlight and does not tolerate heavy shade. Once there is a tree canopy the Hops will cease to be a problem; and the area will not need mowing. The ultimate goal is to establish a riparian buffer that will protect the river from pollution runoff and sediments, and to get rid of the invasive hops. Stream-Link will be maintaining these trees for the next three years.
With an invitation from the president himself (just kidding!), Stream-Link led a tree planting at Camp David in Thurmont, MD. Stream-Link planted 50 trees on the property with Camp David employees, individuals from the Park Service, and Marines. We were unable to take photos and for the first time, we will not be maintaining the site. This was a special planting for Stream-Link that will go down in history, at least to us!
Tomorrow Steam-Link will plant 300 trees in partnership with the Potomac Conservancy. This particular planting site is located on a beautiful farm in Keymar (close to Woodsboro). This farm has history; it grows crops now, mostly soy, but used to raise gold fish in the 1960’s. Two streams run through this 6-acre property and merge into 1 stream at the location where a natural spring discharges cold, clean water before flowing into Israel Creek. The site has a very large deforested riparian zone, leaving the stream susceptible to extreme degradation. The goal is to plant a total of 1,800 trees on this site in the next year. Our next planting for this site will be on April 23, 2016.
Volunteers are always need to plant trees as well as help out with some tree maintenance. Visit www.streamlinkeducation.org or https://www.facebook.com/Streamlinkeducation/ to learn more and to get connected.
