Be an environmental hero without leaving home. Lands Green Waters Clean offers simple, practical solutions for transforming your own yard into a blooming oasis that supports birds and butterflies, protects local streams, and inspires a wave of action across your community. Made possible by the Muddy Branch Alliance, the Seneca Creek Watershed Partners, and YOU.
Lands Green Waters Clean was originally launched by the Izaak Walton League, with special funding from the Chesapeake Bay Trust. In April 2018, the program was transferred to the Muddy Branch Alliance. Since then, Lands Green Waters Clean has worked to help homeowners make small changes that can lead to cleaner water in local streams and healthier populations of butterflies, birds, and other backyard wildlife.
No matter where you are in your native plant journey, Lands Green Waters Clean is here to help. We offer demonstration gardens and events introducing the benefits of native plant gardens to novices. We have native plant sales and resources on how to plan your conservation landscaping. We can connect you to native plant experts, sources of funding for conservation landscaping, and likeminded neighbors.
Together, we can make a difference in our community.
Our Project Partners
The Izaak Walton League of America
The Izaak Walton League of America is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected conservation organizations. The League is especially known as a champion of clean water. With a powerful grassroots network of more than 200 local chapters nationwide (including three in Montgomery County), the League takes a common-sense approach toward protecting our country’s natural heritage and improving outdoor recreation opportunities for all Americans.
Chesapeake Bay Trust
This nonprofit, grant-making organization is dedicated to sparking on-the-ground change to improve the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in Maryland. The Trust’s goal is to increase stewardship through grant programs, special initiatives, and partnerships that support environmental education, demonstration-based restoration, and community engagement. The Trust provided generous financial support for the Izaak Walton League’s original Lands Green Waters Clean program and continues to provide critical funding for LGWC initiatives.
City of Gaithersburg, Maryland
The City of Gaithersburg’s Rainscapes Rewards Program helps residential property owners improve water quality in local streams by installing rain barrels and native plant gardens (also called “conservation landscapes”). The program provides educational resources and financial incentives (in the form of rebates) for these practices.
Montgomery County (Maryland) Department of Environmental Protection
Montgomery County’s Rainscapes Rewards Program provides information and guidance to property owners who are interested in protecting the environment by reducing pollution from rain runoff (also called “stormwater”). The county offers technical and financial assistance (in the form of rebates) to encourage property owners to install native plant gardens and rain barrels, plant trees, and remove hard surfaces on their property.