As shorts and tank-tops come out for summer, tiny blood-thirsty ticks see an all-you-can-eat buffet. Tick-borne illnesses have been climbing in the United States, a steady surge in several diseases carried by ticks like Lyme Disease and Babesiosis.

Plus, most of us know about Patterson Park. But Baltimore is also home to hundreds of scattered, smaller pockets of green, too. And conservationist say they are critical to human and non-human inhabitants alike.

Katie Lautar is Executive Director of Baltimore Green Space, a non-profit helping local communities manage and advocate for parks, gardens and other pockets of nature in their neighborhood

Sylvester Myers also joins us. He’s a community member who’s part of Baltimore Green Space’s Forest Stewardship Network.

Find out more about how to get involved and learn more about the green spaces in your neighborhood on their website.

But first, what’s behind the rise in tickborne illness? And what can you do to protect yourself?

Nicole Baumgarth is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She arrived last September to head the public health school's new Lyme and Tickborne Diseases Research and Education Institute. She is also a doctor of veterinary medicine.

You can learn more about the geography of tickborne disease on the Johns Hopkins Lyme and Tickborne Disease Dashboard.

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