Land Management Division

Mission Statement: The mission of the Land Management Division is to provide a healthy, attractive and safe landscape within our park system and for all government facilities.

The Horticulture and Land Management Division is responsible for looking after the landscaping needs of County government buildings, parks, recreation and community centers and several historic sites in downtown Ellicott City, as well as contract landscape maintenance for many other sites.

The Division reviews construction plans in order to create low maintenance and efficient landscapes, a number one priority. In addition, we provide field assistance to the Natural Resources Section in such areas as emergency tree removal, site preparation for reforestation and meadow management. The Division also assists Park Operations, Capital Projects and Special Events, handles snow removal and leads a broad range of construction projects.

The Division’s Horticulture Section is headed by a professional horticulturist who develops Best Management Practices and an Integrated Pest Management Program for the vast assortment of trees, shrubs, and flowerbeds. The horticulturist selects suitable plant materials for all projects executed in-house and also reviews and makes recommendations on those designed and executed externally.

As you can imagine, with over 56 parks plus numerous other County facilities, there’s an awful lot of lawn to take care of. Our Land Management Section manages all turf within the County park system and all County building grounds – including our No Mow Zones, where we actually let the grass grow in order to reduce erosion, protect streams and create wildlife habitat. Many of the neighborhood parks are contract mowed, which we oversee. The contact person for this group is Joann Frush.

We have many sites where we actively seek volunteers to help maintain various garden beds through our new Adopt-A-Plot program. If you are interested in becoming an active participant or if you have questions or concerns regarding horticultural practices in our parks or government buildings please contact Timothy W. Overstreet.

If you have general plant, lawn care or horticulture questions, related to home landscape care, contact the Home and Garden Information Center at 800-342-2507 or by web at www.hgic.umd.edu.

For any Open Space mowing questions please contact Dan McNamara.