Baltimore County has planted more than 7,100 native trees in 46 neighborhoods, commercial areas and other communities since County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. launched a tree-planting campaign over three years ago.

Olszewski described the initiative’s progress at a news conference Thursday. When he launched the effort, Olszewski said the region needed to plant more trees to beautify the area, increase property values and mitigate the effects of rapid climate change.

He said plans call for planting 1,000 trees a year in coming years.

Two programs make up the campaign Olszewski kicked off: Operation ReTree, which is meant to install trees in lower-income areas like Dundalk that are devoid of tree canopies, and the Street Tree Replacement Program, which focuses on filling empty tree wells where trees have been removed by the county’s Bureau of Highways but not replaced.

These programs support a 2021 state initiative to plant five million native trees across Maryland by 2031. Of those trees, 10% are expected to be in underserved urban areas.

This fall, the county planted 396 street trees in Knettishall and Loch Raven Village, two neighborhoods in and near Towson.

“Over the years, many of the original street trees died and it is nice to have new trees replacing and adding to the tree canopy,” said Mike Ertel, a council member whose sixth district includes those communities. “Street trees correlate with higher property values, lower crime and cooler temperatures in the summer months.”

It could take several years for residents to experience the full benefits of these trees, said Brian Lindley, the forest manager at the county’s Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability. The trees are around 5 to 8 feet tall when planted and will take a couple of years to reach 10 to 15 feet and provide greater shade, he said.

These programs mark a shift from the county’s past tree-planting initiatives, which placed greater emphasis on large rural reforestation than urban and suburban planting. That’s because the county has mostly completed its rural reforestation efforts and has exhausted much of its land, said Ellen Kobler, a spokeswoman at the county environmental protection department.

The county has spent $4.2 million on urban reforestation through these two programs and has sourced funds from the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act and the Chesapeake Bay Trust, which is tasked with awarding grants throughout Maryland for tree canopy installation.

Planting trees in urban areas is harder and more costly because of tight roads and utilities.

The county typically spends $600 per tree, Kobler continued. This includes the cost of labor to stake the tree and other materials like tree banding and water bags. The trees themselves can cost up to $50, and additional labor such as concrete breakage can cost $350, said Jana Davis, the president of the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Trust.

“Yes, it might be $600 to do a street tree replacement or $50 to do a tree,” Davis said. “But you get so many benefits. Trees help communities with superficial aesthetic things. ... Temperature increases in the summer can also literally kill people.”

“This,” she said, “can be the difference between life and death for people.”

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the number of trees that are expected to be planted in underserved urban areas under a state initiative.