Barnesville has beautiful natural resources, in its plants, land, water, and surroundings. Here are some resources on how to maintain a clean, efficient, and sustainable environment.

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Gardening

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Wherever possible, it is best to use Native Plants in your garden. 

Lawns require a lot of work to look good and may not be the best alternative for your property.  Here are some tips on “green” lawn care and alternatives. Additionally, rain gardens can be a green way to manage stormwater and reduce pollution. Composting is a great way to maintain beautiful gardens and minimize the amount of waste that goes into landfills.  

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Habitat Restoration

 

Homeowners in Barnesville have begun to have their backyards certified as Wildlife-friendly habitat.  At least 7 gardens have been certified already. Check out this website - your garden and yard may already have most or all of the features that wildlife need! 

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The Cornell Lab of Ornithology offers seven simple actions you can take to help birds.

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Learn about North American birds at risk due to climate change with an Audubon Maryland-DC online tool with which you can enter your state or zip code to find out which bird species are threatened in your area and to what severity.

 

Planting Trees

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Planting trees is easily accessible for Barnesville residents. The free program Tree Montgomery offers to plant trees right in your own backyard! Through a local community member, we can get our yards evaluated for Tree Montgomery quickly and trees are usually planted in the next appropriate planting season.  After you register for trees on the Tree Montgomery site, email the town clerk at clerk.bmd@gmail.com to be connected with our local evaluator.

 

Another way to contribute to increase tree planting is through the Agricultural Reserve program known as RELEAF the Reserve. The impact of planting trees can be significant in reducing your own carbon footprint and benefit the planet. You can calculate how many trees it would take to offset your carbon footprint here.

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Carbon Sequestration

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Agricultural sustainability is possible through methods known as “carbon sequestration” and “regenerative agriculture.” More information on what regenerative agriculture means to the Agricultural Reserve can be found at http://www.mocoalliance.org/news/confronting-climate-change-the-ag-reserves-role. 

 

General information on what carbon sequestration and regenerative agriculture is and how to implement it at one’s own farm can be found at https://matteroftrust.org/carbon-farming-fighting-climate-change-with-regenerative-agriculture/ and http://www.carboncycle.org/carbon-farming/. 

 

More information about general soil health can be found on University of Maryland’s Extension.

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Well and Septic

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Water is our most precious resource.  In our community we all have individual well and septic systems on our properties. Maintaining these systems in important to our own property value as well as the larger community.  Help with maintaining septic systems can be found here  

and here.

 

General information about well water can be found here 

and here.

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In the fall of 2018, the Town of Barnesville provided residents in the local area with an opportunity to have their well water tested at a discounted price. About 15 properties were tested. The most common problem in our area is bacteria in well water. Some information about bacteria treatment can be found here.

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If you have your well water tested and want help interpreting the results, there is a great online tool here. 

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Recycling

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Recycling in Barnesville follows Montgomery County standards. More information about recycling can be found using the county’s resource website or its various reference guides, an example of which is this brochure.

 

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