The tree coverage in the Chesapeake Bay watershed has been declining in recent years. In our weekly series with the Bay Journal Delmarva Public Media's Don Rush talks with associate editor and senior writer Tim Wheeler about the significance of the decline.
RUSH: The Chesapeake Bay watershed continues to lose its trees and forests, but here on the Eastern shore there are some good news, especially for Salisbury. This is Don Rush. The data are the results from high resolution aerial surveys taken from 2013 to 2021. In a weekly series of Bay Journal, we talked with associate editor and senior writer Tim Wheeler about what the data means.
WHEELER: It's getting harder to see the forest or the trees in the Bay Watershed, despite some stepped up tree planting campaigns in recent years. Bay Watershed as a whole, and Maryland also in particular, have continued to lose significant amounts of tree canopy and forest. At the same time, the amount of pavement and buildings that exacerbate runoff and stormwater pollution keeps spreading.
RUSH: So what is the cause for this?
WHEELER: I mean, we're looking at overall changes in the land use out there, and development is a major driver of that. When it comes to forests, a lot of trees are going down because of timber harvest in rural areas. But in suburban and urban areas, it's more a function of development. Some trees die, some die from pests. Some are removed as they get older and die out. When you compile it all and measure it across the watersheds a little bit here, a little bit there. But the loss of tree cover across the watershed, for instance, was roughly equivalent to the acreage of the city of Lynchburg, Virginia from 2013 through 2021. And on the flip side, the amount of impervious surface that was added in the watershed in that time period was roughly twice the acreage of Baltimore City.
RUSH: Now I understand that in terms of an increase we've seen certainly in Wicomico, Somerset and Worcester County, they apparently grew some. Salisbury in particular seems to have added a lot of acres.
WHEELER: When you looked at the list and saw that Salisbury, for instance, was at or near the top when I contacted them, it's not terribly surprising. There's been a concerted effort in the city in particular, and in the area too, to plant more trees as Salisbury was designated as a tree city by the Arbor Day Foundation. And they have gone out and aggressively sought to plant trees where they can. And they've obtained some significant grants recently, both from the Chesapeake Bay Trust and some settlement money from a pollution violation that they received some money for that. So they've got lots of money to plant more trees. So you should see still more growth there. Wicomico County, I think somewhat the same. You see, they're primarily rural counties that are growing. And again, that may be a function of basically just that the tree canopies are spreading in addition to new trees sprouting up.
RUSH: What are the benefits, by the way, of these trees in terms of the environment?
WHEELER: They're like a Swiss army knife. They provide a lot of different benefits. The trees themselves soak up nitrogen and phosphorus. That's the food that enables them to grow. They soak up runoff, they soak up water so that they reduce flooding and runoff. And then the trees themselves help provide clean air. They filter out harmful particulate pollution. They lower the temperature of the land surface and they absorb carbon dioxide, which is contributing to climate change. So all those things. They also provide habitat for birds and animals. And when they're planted along streams and rivers, they help reduce the temperatures in those and improve habitat for fish and aquatic creatures.
RUSH: Tim Wheeler, associate editor and senior writer for the Bay Journal on the depletion of tree cover in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. This is Don Rush for Delmarva Public Media.
