What will you do for Earth Day?
Earth Day connected millions on its first observance in 1970 and is now a global effort. Celebrate the 51st anniversary of Earth Day by doing one small action to improve the Chesapeake Bay. Together, our individual actions will add up to a better tomorrow.
Baltimore Earth Day 2021 is your one-stop location for all things Earth Day. There is so much work to be done that we are compiling an entire month of Earth Day activities! Check back often for updates.
- Volunteer to plant trees or restore habitat
- Volunteer for a community clean-up
- Discover nature at home (Earth Day virtual events)
- Explore the outdoors
- Dig into gardening with native plants
- Connect with our Baltimore Earth Day steering committee of local non-profits and other environmental resources
Make a difference in your backyard by planting a FREE flowering native tree in honor of Earth Day. Advance registration is required as supplies are limited. We sold out of our available native trees in less than a day! Thanks for your patience as we assess whether we can provide additional trees (4/12/21)
- Saturday, April 24 (9:30 am – 11:30 am): Native Tree Giveaway at North Point State Park FULL
- Sunday, April 25 (11 am – 1 pm): Native Tree Giveaway at Oregon Ridge Nature Center FULL
We will have the following native trees available in 1 – 2 gallon containers:
- Redbud (Cercis canadensis)
- Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
- Sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana)
- Fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus)
- Tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
One tree per household. We cannot guarantee the availability of a particular species.
Volunteer: Tree Planting & Habitat Restoration
- April 3: Habitat Team Volunteers – Patterson Park
- April 5: Tree Maintenance – Remove invasive plants near Loch Raven Reservoir
- April 7: Tree Maintenance – Remove invasive plants near Loch Raven Reservoir
- April 9: Tree Planting – Curtis Bay
- April 10: Invasive Plant Removal – Remington
- April 11: Tree Maintenance – Remove invasive plants near Loch Raven Reservoir
- April 12: Tree Maintenance – Remove invasive plants near Loch Raven Reservoir
- April 14: Tree Planting – Belair Edison
- April 17: Help restore urban forest and community park – Levickas Woods at Dunmore
- April 18: Garlic Mustard Pull and Pizza ($) at Cromwell Valley Park
- April 20: Protect trees from cicada brood X – Towson
- April 21: Protect trees from cicada brood X – Towson
- April 24: Tree Planting – New Broadway East
- April 24: Earth Day Tree Planting – Loch Raven Skeet & Trap Center
- April 24: Invasive Species Removal – North Point State Park
- April 24: Habitat Restoration Team Weed Warrior Day at Cromwell Valley Park
- April 24: Habitat Restoration event – Cherry Heights Woodland Garden
- April 28: Tree Planting – New Broadway East
- April 30: Tree Planting – New Broadway East
Volunteer: Community Clean-Ups
- April 3: Project Clean Stream – North Point State Park
- April 10: Lake Roland Sanitary Sewer Overflow Monitoring
- April 10: Powhatan Park clean-up in Woodlawn
- April 17: Project Clean Stream in Towson (Burkleigh Square)
- April 17: Project Clean Stream in Towson (Glendale Park)
- April 17: Grays Road clean-up in Dundalk
- April 24: Project Clean Stream – Loch Raven Reservoir
- April 24: Project Clean Stream in Towson (Stoneleigh School Creek Valley)
- April 25: Project Clean Stream in Northwood (Overlook Park)
- April 29: Project Clean Stream in Towson (Overlook Park)
Find stream clean-up events throughout Maryland at Project Clean Stream website.
Learn about the technology behind Baltimore’s famous Trash Wheel family, which have collected 1,561 tons of trash and debris!
Volunteer to maintain oyster gardens in Canton and near Federal Hill.
Earth Day Virtual Events
- April 5: Nature Book Club – The Weather Machine. Andrew Blum takes readers on a journey through the people, places & tools of forecasting, exploring how the weather went from something we simply observed to something we could actually predict.
- April 6: Let’s Create a Movement! What is the One Water Partnership? Learn how faith communities in the region are incorporating nature walks and tree plantings into their spiritual practices.
- April 8: Fleeting Moments of Spring – Learn about spring ephemeral plants and the fascinating relationships they hold with other organisms in the forest understory.
- April 10: Chesapeake Bay SAV Watchers – a free training for citizen scientists interested in helping the Bay by monitoring submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV).
- April 17: Virtual Wild and Scenic Film Festival with Ladew Gardens
- April 18 – 24: Tune into MPT’s Chesapeake Bay Week to celebrate the nation’s largest estuary with a broad collection of programs and films guaranteed to inspire, entertain, and educate.
- April 21: iNaturalist Primer – Learn how to use iNaturalist to contribute to biodiversity science.
- April 21: From Mountains to Sea: Maryland’s Natural Areas: Learn about 31 unique natural areas open to the public, including ancient peatlands and the globally rare serpentine savanna at Soldier’s Delight.
- April 21: Pollinators, Backyard Habitat, and Why it Matters hosted by Forever Maryland. Speaker: Heather Holm, National Honorary Director of Wild Ones.
- April 22: Watch Earth Water Woman and then join a panel discussion and celebration of congregational efforts to heal their local watersheds and the Bay. The movie spotlights the Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project in Trinidad and Tobago, and its charismatic leader Akilah Jaramogi.
- April 22: Plan ahead to disconnect with technology and celebrate Loving Up Gaia! – Earth Day Unplugged. Visit Facebook event for a list of suggestions.
- April 22: Spend Earth Day with Rachel Carson ($) as Colleen Webster assumes the persona of this legend in a one-woman show that highlights Carson’s research, personal life and legacy.
- April 30: Green Towson Alliance Book Club will discuss The Humane Gardener by Nancy Lawson. Link will be posted on Facebook.
Outdoor Explorations
- April 3: Morning Bird Walk at Cromwell Valley Park
- April 9: Morning Bird Walk at Oregon Ridge Nature Center
- April 9: Froggy Night Hike ($) at Marshy Point Nature Center
- April 10: Scavengers, They’re Awesome ($) at Oregon Ridge Nature Center.
- April 11: Canoe the Creek at Marshy Point Nature Center
- April 11: Fungus Among Us ($) at Oregon Ridge Nature Center.
- April 11: Sunday Birdwalk at Marshy Point Nature Center
- April 17-18: Earth Day Scavenger Hunt ($) at Oregon Ridge Nature Center.
- Participants will sign up for an arrival timeslot then follow clues on this self-guided hike around the park (~1 hour). Return to the Nature Center to check your answers and receive a prize! All ages. $2/person (FREE for ORNCC members).
- 11 am – 3 pm. Requires advance registration – download Covid-19 waiver here and send to ORNCC.
- April 24: Earth Day Celebration at Zion UCC Perry Hall
- April 24: Earth Day Celebration ($) at Marshy Point Nature Center
- April 24: Frog Calls Night Hike ($) at Oregon Ridge Nature Center
- April 25: Seeing the Forest for the Trees at Oregon Ridge Nature Center
Take photos of the plants and animals you observe and submit them to the City Nature Challenge (April 30 – May 3). City Nature Challenge is an annual community science competition for cities across the globe to find and document the plants and wildlife found in urban areas.
Visit a Baltimore County park or walking trail.
Visit a Baltimore City park. Take your exploration to the next level by browsing Green maps for NE Baltimore area and the Jones Falls Trail.
Native Plants & Garden Resources
- Thru July 1: Prepare your garden for Green Towson Alliance’s Native Garden Contest.
- Nuts for Natives features native plant gardening resources for the Chesapeake Bay.
- Watch landscape practices for a healthy Chesapeake Bay video. It gives a brief overview of the University of Maryland Extension – Master Gardeners’ Bay-Wise program, which promotes Better Water Quality Through Smarter Gardening.
- Local resources for buying native plants
- Herring Run Nursery (Baltimore, MD)
- Direct Native Plants (online sales only; Middle River, MD)
- Kollar Nursery (Pylesville, MD)
- Chesapeake Natives (Upper Marlboro, MD)
- Lauren’s Garden Service (Glenwood, MD)
- Valley View Farms (Cockeysville, MD) *Limited native plants
Take a self-guided Waterfront Walk through Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and view 13 examples of native plant gardens.
Stay Connected with Nature
In 2000, the Baltimore environmental community came together to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Earth Day with a mix of hands-on activities, environmental education, and outdoor recreation. Long-time Gunpowder Valley Conservancy volunteer, Charlie Conklin, aspired to recreate the celebration and formed a steering committee for the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. While 2020 had other plans, it could not deter our commitment to collaborating to improve our part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Learn more about the Baltimore Earth Day Committee (2020-2021)
The Gunpowder Valley Conservancy (GVC) is a Baltimore County-based land trust and watershed restoration non-profit. Learn about our 30 years of accomplishments in our 2019 annual report
Baltimore County‘s Clean Green Baltimore County publishes tips, news, and information for residents, businesses & organizations looking to improve their environmental protection and sustainability efforts.
Baltimore County Public Schools promote environmental literacy in the classroom and through outdoor investigations. Learn about their Green 60: Our Planet, Our Home challenge going on right now!
Blue Water Baltimore‘s mission is to restore the quality of Baltimore’s rivers, streams and Harbor to foster a healthy environment, a strong economy and thriving communities.
Green Towson Alliance was created in 2015 by residents from neighborhoods in and around Towson who wanted to work together to create a greener, healthier and more beautiful community through collaboration and activism.
Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake (IPC)’s mission is to ignite the power of faith communities in the Chesapeake region to honor all of Creation by working together to protect and restore our shared watershed.
Mare Cromwell is an award-winning author and Gaia Communicator and Priestess. Mare organized the Gunpowder Watershed Festival on Earth Day (2000) in Baltimore, which inspired us to pursue this collaborative project.
The mission of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Maryland Park Service is to manage the natural, cultural, historical and recreational resources to provide for wise stewardship and enjoyment by people.
NeighborSpace of Baltimore County works to enhance the livability of communities inside the Urban Rural Demarcation Line (URDL) by protecting and improving land for small parks, gardens, trails, and natural areas.
Oregon Ridge Nature Center is a facility of the Baltimore County Department of Recreation & Parks. Oregon Ridge’s mission is to provide engaging educational and recreational opportunities in nature that will instill a sense of wonder, promote environmental stewardship, and create a lasting legacy of positive choices in our own backyards, Maryland, and the Chesapeake Bay.
Valleys Planning Council is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization established in 1962. Its mission is to conserve land and resources, preserve historic character and maintain the rural feel and land uses in the valleys. The VPC territory includes 130 square miles in northwest Baltimore County.