Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Management Nursery topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County DOE pitches "Growing Our Own" nursery to grow native trees, train students
Summary
On Feb. 18 the PGCPS Climate Change Action Plan Ad Hoc Committee heard Prince George’s County Department of the Environment (DOE) propose a local native-plant nursery model — “Growing Our Own” — to reduce transport emissions, supply school greening projects and provide student and workforce training.
Mary Abe, Deputy Associate Director at the Prince George’s County Department of the Environment, told the Climate Change Action Plan Ad Hoc Committee on Feb. 18 that the county is advancing a "Growing Our Own" native-plant nursery model that would partner with Prince George’s County Public Schools to grow trees and perennials locally, reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from long-distance transport, and create hands-on learning and workforce-training opportunities.
The program would use a combination of on-campus greenhouses, portable production units such as retrofitted shipping-container "growtainers," and partnerships with local farmers to raise seedlings to maturity. "Growing Our Own started off we were trying to get a grant…to stand up a native plant nursery in Prince George’s County to grow native trees," Abe said, describing a model intended to keep procurement and jobs local.
Why it matters: DOE officials and scientists said much of the plant material currently used in county plantings is sourced from out of state, adding transport emissions and cost. Julie Wolf, a climate and soil scientist with DOE, summarized the climate rationale: "If we grow them here, those transportation emissions drop down to almost nothing," she said, noting that local production also improves resiliency and can pivot to food production in emergencies.
Key details presented to the committee include: a professional-scale operating model that separates student-facing activities from the production workspace; plans to grow 10–12-foot planting stock (a process expected to take several years and to rely on local contract growers for finishing larger trees); and portable, low-footprint systems that avoid major ground disturbance. DOE also described pilot site interest at Gwynne Park, where a school greenhouse exists but the parcel identified is landlocked and would require logistical workarounds for truck access.
DOE framed the project as a way to fulfill Climate Change Action Plan goals — increasing local green infrastructure, reducing embodied transportation emissions in plant procurement, and creating new curricular and career pathways for students in the county. The Department estimated current plant deliveries for local plantings involve dozens of tractor-trailer loads from out of state and said a local nursery could lower those transport needs.
Next steps: Committee members invited DOE to return with further cost and site feasibility work. Christina Garcia Strelin, PGCPS program manager for sustainability, said staff will follow up with DOE and other stakeholders to explore MOUs, site logistics and integration with school CTE and curriculum offerings.
