Port Towns Tree Mapping

In 2024-2025, NDC’s Forestry Team spent time in three Maryland municipalities to analyze the health, species diversity, and maintenance needs of each urban canopy, while mapping strategic new tree-planting locations.

These Prince George’s County (PGC) municipalities — Bladensburg, Colmar Manor, and Cottage City — are part of a collection of communities along the Anacostia River called the Port Towns. 

Prince George’s County has an active and comprehensive program, Right Tree, Right Place, to manage trees within its unincorporated areas outside of municipal boundaries.

Small incorporated municipalities, like the Port Towns, are not within the purview of PGC’s Right Tree, Right Place program and often lack funding or access to arborist expertise to help deeply understand their urban canopy’s management needs. With funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), NDC was able to help address this gap.

Tree mapping is a powerful tool for maintaining urban canopy health.

Tree mapping pinpoints trees’ locations and tracks their health, allowing cities to manage their urban forests more effectively. By identifying coverage gaps and assessing tree conditions, we can make informed decisions to strengthen our green infrastructure.

At the time of data collection, across all three municipalities:

Our NDC Forestry team inventoried 647 trees and identified 719 viable locations for new tree plantings to expand the municipal urban canopies to their full potential.

Robust reports detailing the health and needs of each tree, overall species make-up percentages, and recommendations for future planting and maintenance were delivered to each municipality’s leadership.

In addition to sharing the findings with municipal leaders, the NDC Forestry Team presented at a public community meeting in each municipality. During these presentations, the team shared tree inventory data, high-level analysis, and the impact of healthy street trees in the community.

The municipalities then shared the presentation materials on their public community platforms. Finally, the team conducted two maintenance training sessions with the municipalities’ public works and contractor teams.

Project Impact

Joe’s Movement Emporium’s Green Works team planted 517 trees across all three municipalities using the identified tree locations and following our tree species recommendations. This is an example of the inventories serving as a catalyst for municipalities to access resources and funds for tree planting. 

Benefits of Urban Trees