A stand of more than one hundred trees close to downtown Silver Spring was nearly razed by the Maryland State Highways Administration (SHA) this fall, with no replanting plan in place. After protests from the community, including Conservation Montgomery, SHA reduced the scope of the work and promised to replant in spring. However the work they went on to do hollowed out and opened up the stand and caused damage to existing trees. Meanwhile, the replanting plan is so far only a verbal promise, with no firm guarantee that it will take place.

The trees in question fill a large unbuilt wedge of land in the SHA right-of-way where the north- and south-bound lanes of 16th St split as 16th meets Georgia Ave. They are the last of the patches of second-growth woods which as recently as a few years ago dotted Georgia Ave between Wheaton and central Silver Spring. Tree species include Locust, Tulip Poplar, Oak and Maple, all volunteers. There is also small wetland on the parcel.

Although this woodland had been badly degraded by invasive vines, mostly English Ivy, as well as invasive brush, satellite views show that it nevertheless provided a large patch of unbroken tree canopy in summer. This was particularly valuable as the land abuts the Montgomery Hills Business District, which is almost entirely paved and has the lowest tree canopy in all of Montgomery County at only 8%, instead of the recommended 25%. The trees and thicket-like undergrowth also served as a visual, noise and pollution barrier for homes on either side of 16th St in the adjacent neighborhoods of Woodside and North Woodside. Fallen trees and snags, hard to find in the suburbs, provided homes for those wildlife species that depend on them.

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