The Arlington County Board last week approved a new program that will use developer money to help preserve the county’s dwindling tree canopy on private land.
Officials say the county’s program is unique in Virginia and that it allows them a way to work within state laws that limit counties’ authority to regulate tree removal on private property.
“We really have an initiative in the county to increase our tree canopy cover, and where we’re seeing the largest loss is from private property,” said Jamie Bartalon, a supervisor for Arlington’s parks department, which was involved in designing the program.
According to county estimates, Arlington has lost more than 18 percent of its heavy tree-cover land over the past 30 years. Tree preservation has been on the county’s list of priorities since at least 2002, according to Board Chairman Paul Ferguson.
Currently, when developers follow county zoning rules, they are free to remove trees on their land at will.
When they ask the county for special zoning exceptions, however, Arlington requires them to follow a tree replacement formula that takes into account the species, size and age of the trees they are removing. Removing a large, sturdy oak could require three replacement trees, for example.
Developers who are unable to plant the trees on their property for space reasons usually pay for the county to plant them on public land, which does nothing to curb the loss of tree canopy on private land, Bartalon said. Under the new program, developers will pay the county $2,400 for every tree they are unable to plant themselves. The money will go into a tree canopy fund that will be administered by Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment, a nonprofit group that will distribute grants to neighborhood groups for planting trees on private properties.
“It’s a vision in progress,” said Susan Kalish of Arlington’s parks department. “It’s such a cool, neat idea — now we have to flush it out.”
Kalish said that since the word got out about the program this week, seven people have called requesting trees for their properties. But building a pot of money and finalizing the program will take time.
