Worcester County, MD Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

The Worcester County Forest Conservation Law applies only in the unincorporated areas of the County (§ NR 1-401(b)). Under § NR 1-403(a) it reaches subdivision plans, site plan applications, and grading or sediment control permits on areas forty thousand square feet or greater, and § NR 1-403(b)(2) exempts activities in areas governed by the Critical Area Protection Law.

Section NR 1-409(a) lists the retention priorities. Item (4) covers forest communities containing species identified on the list of rare, threatened, and endangered species of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service or the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Items (1) and (2) cover trees, shrubs, plants and forest communities in sensitive areas, which the code lists as the one-hundred-year floodplain, intermittent and perennial streams and their buffers, steep slopes, nontidal wetlands and their buffers, and critical habitats.

Section NR 1-402 defines a critical habitat for endangered species as a habitat occupied by an endangered species as determined or listed under state law and as appears in the Worcester County Forest Conservation Manual. A critical habitat area adds the surrounding protection area and must be likely to contribute to the long-term survival of the species and likely to be occupied by it for the foreseeable future.

Retained areas stay undisturbed, with the exception of general woodlot management, unless the applicant demonstrates to the Department's satisfaction that reasonable efforts have been made to protect them and the plan cannot be reasonably altered. Under § NR 1-409(b), protective devices described in the Manual go in before cutting, clearing, grading or construction begins on a site that needs a forest conservation plan.

Land inside the Critical Area follows a separate subtitle. Section NR 3-121 requires the owner of property containing or adjacent to a habitat of a threatened or endangered species or a species in need of conservation, where a land altering activity is proposed, to submit a habitat protection plan to the Department before beginning the activity. The Department requests review and comments from the Department of Natural Resources.