the Neighborhood Design Center

Community Forestry

Engagement and Facilitation

East Pines Community Forest Restoration

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East Pines Community Forest Visioning Pop-Up | September 13, 2025
East Pines Community Forest Visioning Pop-Up | September 13, 2025

A year-long initiative to restore, reimagine, and activate the East Pines forest.

East Pines, located in East Riverdale outside of municipal boundaries, is a community with a unique one-acre wooded parcel owned by its homeowners association. Historically, the space contained a playground and served as an informal gathering area, but over time it became overrun with invasive species and underutilized. The East Pines Citizens Association envisioned reclaiming the land as a community resource for recreation, education, and ecological health.

The community approached the Neighborhood Design Center (NDC), building on a prior collaboration on the East Pines Community Center landscape improvement project, to help guide this transformation.

Initial Survey of the Forest

This short video shows NDC Project Manager of Urban and Community Forestry Colin Breidenbach’s first time in the Eastpines Forest, where he notices lots of invasive ground cover, ivy, bamboo, and down trees, remarking that this is going to be a great forest to restore and get back to a state where people can use it.

WATCH THE CLIP ➔

Pop-up Event

This short video shows NDC Project Manager of Landscape Design Jenny Smeltzer at an East Pines pop-up event, walking us through the community engagement aspect, displaying easel boards of the forest site, visual inspiration, and questions gathering resident feedback via sticky notes.

WATCH THE CLIP ➔

Project Scope & Goals

With support from a Chesapeake Bay Trust grant and a major investment from the Klingenstein Foundation, NDC is leading a year-long initiative (beginning July 2024) to restore, reimagine, and activate the East Pines forest. This is one of the few projects where NDC is not only providing design and engagement support but also taking on direct implementation—an exciting opportunity to demonstrate a full cycle of community-led transformation.

Key goals include:

    • Ecological Restoration: Removing invasive species, inventorying mature trees, and planting for long-term forest health.

    • Community Access & Use: Formalizing entrances through narrow “paper roads,” creating pathways, and identifying spaces for play, gathering, and nature immersion.

    • Education & Stewardship: Hosting workshops (including youth and high school involvement) to teach residents about forest ecology, invasive species management, and long-term maintenance.

    • Workforce Development: Partnering with organizations like Joe’s Movement Emporium’s Green Team to pair restoration work with training opportunities.

    • Storytelling & Replication: Documenting the process through photos, video, and community voices to create a case study and a replicable model for other neighborhoods across Prince George’s County.

Project activities:

    • Data Collection & Inventory: Tree Team-led surveys and point sampling to establish a baseline of forest composition and invasive prevalence.

    • Invasive Removal: Combining traditional methods with creative approaches—possibly including goats for vine removal—to both restore the site and engage the community.

    • Replanting & Restoration: Installing seedlings and native plants in winter/spring seasons.

    • Community Workshops: Sessions for residents and youth to build skills in stewardship and ecological awareness.

    • Communications & Engagement: Developing a bilingual (English/Spanish) community landing page for updates and events, alongside broader NDC storytelling through project snapshots, blogs, and video.

Significance — this project stands out as:

    • A Prototype Model: Funders see it as a scalable pilot for other community-owned forest parcels across the county.

    • A Full-Cycle NDC Project: Moving beyond design into hands-on implementation, restoration, and stewardship.

    • A Partnership Story: Demonstrating how local resident leadership, HOA ownership, funder support, and NDC expertise intersect to transform neglected spaces.

    • An Educational Tool: Offering measurable ecological benefits (stormwater absorption, carbon sequestration, nitrogen reduction) and a platform for public workshops, youth engagement, and broader outreach.

Stay tuned throughout the year to see our progress!

Last Updated October 2025

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