This tree planting project will strengthen and revitalize a two-acre riparian buffer along a 500-foot stretch of Moore’s Creek, a tributary of Woods Creek in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Healthy riparian buffers protect water quality, filter excess nutrients from waterways, prevent bank erosion, provide habitat and food for local wildlife, and create shade for aquatic species. Riparian vegetation also removes carbon from the atmosphere. Because Moore’s Creek is in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, protecting its health has a positive ripple effect that benefits aquatic ecosystems all the way to the Bay and beyond.

This project was a partnership between the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Boxerwood Education Association, volunteer groups, and the private landowners. Over two days in December 2021, 50 volunteers from local community groups and university students planted 325 native trees, including dogwoods, red maples, and tulip poplars. This planting reforested just over two acres of land on the banks of Moore’s Creek and on a previously bare hillslope overlooking the waterway. These trees are projected to sequester 29 metric tons of carbon dioxide during the 15-year project period.