Arboriculture Division - Services

Tree Care

Montgomery Parks Arboriculture staff oversees the Historic, Significant and Champion Tree Program aimed at preserving significant trees on Parkland to ensure their long-term health and survival. Currently, there are more than 200 special trees in this collection.

Historic, significant and champion trees are an important part of Montgomery County’s landscape. We are the proud home to several county and state champion trees. Of note, the largest tree in Maryland is a Sycamore located on parkland in Dickerson Conservation Park. The Montgomery County Forestry Board maintains the Champion Tree List for Montgomery County. If you would like to nominate a tree for champion status or would like more information on the board.

Tree Preservation and Consultation

Tree Preservation on Parkland

During Park Development and Renovation Projects on Parkland, our Urban Foresters give expert arboricultural advice from the design phase through the construction phase of projects to protect and enhance the health of Park trees. Construction projects have the potential to cause many adverse conditions to a tree’s growing environment including:

Soil compaction
Removal of roots
Lowering and raising existing grade
Physical wounding of the tree
Altering water supply

As project design begins trees in the area are identified to be preserved. We then identify tree preservation techniques that can be used during construction to ensure trees are not severely impacted. During construction we inspect the site throughout the construction to ensure tree preservation measures are carried out. Trees that cannot be avoided by construction impacts are provided with remedial treatments and are monitored well after construction to maintain tree health.

Utility Work on Parkland

Park Urban Foresters work closely with utility companies conducting work on parkland to ensure that trees are protected while still allowing utilities to do necessary work to continue to provide services to the public. Power companies such as PEPCO, BGE and Potomac Edison have many miles of electrical transmission and distribution lines that run through parkland. Before any work is done on parkland our Urban Foresters meet with their staff to approve proposed work. As the landowner we approve which trees need to be removed or just pruned and provide guidance on how this work should be done in order to minimize negative impacts to parkland. Although it is important to reduce the risk of vegetative interference with electrical lines we also take into account the benefit trees provide to the surrounding park and what the loss of that tree would mean to that park setting. When trees are approved for removal we also make determinations if replanting trees in the same area is appropriate and if so, work with power companies to provide replacement trees for those removed.

In addition to electric lines there are also utilities such as water, sewer and gas pipe systems located throughout parkland. We work with these utility companies to allow for regular and emergency maintenance of their infrastructure located on parkland. We provide guidance on such projects for access, tree and forest protection both before and during construction. We also assess tree and forest impacts at the end of construction to determine necessary mitigation and restoration measures. Trees impacted beyond preservation are removed to insure safety of people and property.

Tree Inspection

Tree Inspection Projects

Arboriculture Section staff are International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ) Urban Foresters. Park trees are inspected on an annual or requested basis based on ISA’s tree risk assessment best management practices. The purpose of implementing a tree risk assessment program is to provide a safe experience for park patrons. Tree risk assessment is the systematic process of assessing the potential for a tree or one of its parts to fail and, in so doing, injure people or damage property. All trees have the potential to fail. The degree of risk will vary with the size of the tree, type and location of the defect, tree species, and the nature of the target.

Montgomery Parks houses 420 parks that are available to the public. There are a variety of park types throughout the County and each offer a different set of amenities, for example:

Local Parks
Neighborhood Parks
Recreational Parks
Regional Parks
Conservation Parks
Stream Valley Parks

The Inspection Program Consists of two Primary Operations:

Annual Inspections

Annual inspections cover trees in parks with amenities. Urban foresters identify tree hazards (such as dead, dying or diseased limbs or trees), prioritize maintenance, and schedule work. Additionally, parkland impacted by severe weather is scheduled for immediate inspection.

Requested Inspections

All requests for service should be called into the Montgomery Parks Public Information & Customer Service Office at 301-495-2595 or emailed to Info@MontgomeryParks.org.