Last summer, the Maryland Department of Agriculture confirmed worsening symptoms of beech leaf disease throughout the State in counties including Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, and Washington and Baltimore City. Beech trees make up a large population of trees in area parks, and trees are showing signs of the disease. You can see symptoms of BLD in the leaves of affected trees: the leaves have dark stripes or bands between the veins on the leaves. The University of Maryland Extension has good information about Beech Leaf Disease, with a map showing how it has spread […]
Continue readingBaltimore County
June 2026 Newsletter
Schedule of Summer/Fall Events 2026 Native Garden Contest Applications OpenDate: Monday, June 8 – July 7 (see below for more information) GTA Prop-Making Event for Fourth of July parade Fourth of July ParadeWe need your help to create new props for GTA’s entry into Towson’s Fourth of July Parade! We will be creating fish and frogs from recycled materials, along with painting a new parade banner for our theme: ❤️Your Neighborhood StreamDate: Saturday, June 13Time: 11am-2pmLocation: Central Presbyterian Church Outdoor Pavilion, 7308 York Road, Towson, MD 21204 Fourth of July parade: Love Your Neighborhood Stream We need at least 20 marchers […]
Continue readingLetter from the GTA Executive Committee to the Baltimore County Council regarding the Jones Falls Sewershed
May 26, 2026Baltimore County Council 400 Washington AveTowson, MD 21204 Re: Bill 37-26, 2026 Basic Services Sewerage Map (BSSM) Dear Council Members: The purpose of this letter is to express our deep disappointment with both the timing and the substance of the letter dated May 4, 2026 submitted to you by the Office of Governmental Affairs in opposition to an amendment proposed by Councilman Patoka expanding the Area of Deficiency (AOD) within the Jones Falls sewershed. As for the timing, it appears that a copy of the letter was not made available to the public in […]
Continue readingGreen Good News from Green Towson Alliance
Green Towson Alliance celebrated 10 years of friendship, advocacy, greening and environmental education in 2025. Here are some of our accomplishments. BUILDING A CLEANER, GREENER, MORE BEAUTIFUL TOWSON Community Shade Trees In the 11th year of partnership with Blue Water Baltimore, GTA helped coordinate the planting of 207 trees in 15 Towson neighborhoods in autumn 2025, including Anneslie, Campus Hills, Glendale, Greenbrier, Idlewylde, Knollwood, Lutherville,Rogers Forge, Ruxton-RIderwood, Stoneleigh, West Towson, Wiltondale, and others. Trees ranged from long-lived, tall shade trees (Willow Oak, Shumard Oak, Swamp White Oak, Tulip Poplar, Honey Locust), to mid-sized Riverbirch and […]
Continue readingGTA’s 10th Birthday Party!
Green Towson Alliance celebrated 10 years of the combined efforts of manypeople and community liaisons to create a greener and healthier environment inall the neighborhoods that consider Towson their downtown. Over 70 people attended the birthday party on Thursday, May 22 2025, in thecourtyard at Central Presbyterian Church. Festive party lights and GTA’s 4th ofJuly parade props of trees, bees and butterflies decorated the space, organizedby Allison Schulze. A native plant swap started the evening. GTA co-founders Carol Newill and BethMiller presented a brief program summarizing the two main areas of GTAactivities: Hands-On (trees, streams, […]
Continue reading10th Year of Stream Cleanups Coordinated by Green Towson Alliance
Green Towson Alliance has been organizing stream cleanups of local streams and tributaries of the Herring Run and the Jone Falls since it was founded in 2015. This April, 127 volunteers (including 17 children) cleaned trash out of the stream beds and banks and from the alleys and storm drains that funnel trash into the streams. At some sites, invasive English Ivy was cut from the trees and garlic mustard was pulled out. In all, teams at 8 locations collected 109 bags of trash and recyclables, and 16 bags of invasive weeds. In addition, unusual […]
Continue readingProposed Changes to Baltimore County Weed Ordinance
Proposal to amend the Baltimore County Code to include “low-impact landscaping” in the list of exceptions to the county weed control ordinance. This document was presented to Baltimore County Commission on Environmental Quality by the Green Towson Alliance on September 27, 2023.
Continue readingGTA Statement on 2023 Triennial Review of the Water Supply and Sewerage Master Plan
Green Towson Alliance (GTA) and other advocates have challenged the sanitary sewage capacity in the Jones Falls Sewershed since 2016 and are convinced that raw sewage is fouling open waters while more development is being approved. A network of pipes run alongside and under our streams to carry raw sewage from our homes and businesses to treatment plants. The state of Maryland has laws that require the conveyance of this waste to be safely contained within the sanitary sewer system. But in Baltimore County’s Jones Falls watershed, the size and condition of these pipes is […]
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