Group 4: Trees

Memo #1

Issue Summary

Trees in forests serve a foundational role in supporting the ecosystem by providing habitat and food for wildlife, protecting watershed health, removing air pollution, and overall improving quality of life for people[1]. However, when it comes to forests in urban areas, development pressures reduce the trees’ ability to provide these ecosystem services. Effective urban forest management in Fairfax County is essential to maintaining environmental health for the sake of the natural landscape’s intrinsic value, as well as for the benefit of Fairfax’s residents.

            Although Fairfax County has established governmental branches that address urban forest management, the county itself has little authority over what landowners decide to do with the trees on their property. In order to better protect the county’s urban forests, Fairfax County should expand their authority over clear-cutting trees, offer incentives for preserving trees, and further engage with relevant stakeholders.

Background

In 1995, Fairfax County established the Tree Preservation Task Force (TPTF) to address the environmental and socio-economic impacts of reduced tree canopy cover caused by new land development[2]. At the time, the TPTF conducted surveys to assess the county’s tree cover and offer recommendations to the Board of Supervisors in terms of urban forest preservation. Since then, the TPTF has evolved into the Tree Action Plan (TAP), last updated in September 2019[3]. TAP identified five framework goals towards protecting urban forests in Fairfax: “1) know what we have; 2) protect and improve what we have; 3) expand what we have; 4) update urban forestry policies and processes; and 5) communicate and build partnerships”[4]. These five goals lay the base for what should be prioritized when it comes to urban forest management.

            A survey conducted in 2015 by the University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory showed that between 2011 and 2015, Fairfax County experienced a gross loss of over 8000 acres in tree canopy. However, this loss was compensated for by acquisition of more land and new tree plantings, resulting in a net gain of 1% canopy cover[5]. While there is evidence of tree canopy gain, it should be noted that tree canopy loss was unevenly distributed across the county, most concentrated in the supervisory districts of Braddock, Mason, Mount Vernon, and Providence[6].

Policy Options

  • Expand Fairfax County authority over removal of trees
    • As of currently, there are no specific policies that regulate whether a property owner can or cannot remove trees. There are exceptions to this, however, but they only apply if the land is a designated protected area with conservation easements or if the trees cover more than 2,500 square feet[7].
  • Implement fiscal incentives for land developers who preserve existing trees
    • Providing financial incentives to land developers who preserve existing trees would encourage the protection of older trees rather than the planting of new ones. This would also prevent losses in canopy cover, as older trees provide more cover and only continue to grow. Incentives for preserving trees could include reduced local property tax, higher chance of building approval, and/or funding from the Tree Preservation and Planting Fund (TPPF)[8].
  • Encourage relationships between communities and their urban forests through education and outreach campaigns
    • Fairfax County already supports education and outreach efforts for urban forest protection through programs at local schools and NGO’s[9]. This could be further expanded to demographics outside of schools by opening urban forestry education programs to the public. This method would reach a wider audience, most importantly to landowners with trees on their property.

Pros and cons

  • Expand Fairfax County authority over removal of trees
    • Pros: Individual trees and tree stands can more easily be identified as being an important urban forest and protected from removal.
    • Cons: May be difficult to accomplish politically, as Fairfax’s established authority over urban trees is dispersed throughout the County Code[10]. Additionally, there may be resistance from property-owners who prefer the freedom of doing what they like to their own property.
  • Implement fiscal incentives for land developers who preserve existing trees
    • Pros: The monetary value of urban forest ecosystem services heavily outweigh what it would require to implement incentives. Stormwater control benefits from vegetation alone are estimated to be $26.3 million per year[11].
    • Cons: Competitive and prioritized funding will create challenges for building the capacity to provide monetary incentives[12].
  • Encourage relationships between communities and their urban forests through education and outreach campaigns
    • Pros: Increasing public understanding of the importance of urban forests would also increase public pressure to preserve urban forests.
    • Cons: Current events (i.e. COVID-19 restrictions) will make some in-person outreach events unfeasible and may have to be postponed for the long-term.

Recommendations

  • The County Code should be amended to require landowners to acquire permission from the County before removing trees within a specified area. This amendment should be made in Chapter 12: Tree Conservation of the Public Facilities Manual[13].
  • Providing economic incentives to developers should be accomplished through the TPPF[14]. The TPPF should be fixed to allow land developers to apply for funding towards preserving existing trees. This incentive could be even further expanded by highly encouraging small and local business, parks, and homeowners to apply.
  • Because Fairfax County’s Public Works and Environmental Services already offers urban forestry education programs, these programs can simply be expanded to include publicly accessible participation.

[1] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/trees/benefits-planting-trees

[2] https://www.novaregion.org/DocumentCenter/View/247/OTFFinalReport12703?bidId=

[3] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/sites/publicworks/files/assets/documents/treeactionplan.pdf

[4] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/sites/publicworks/files/assets/documents/treeactionplan.pdf

[5] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/sites/publicworks/files/assets/documents/tree-canopy-report-2015.pdf

[6] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/sites/publicworks/files/assets/documents/tree-canopy-report-2015.pdf

[7] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/trees/removal

[8] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/trees/tree-preservation-and-planting-fund

[9] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/trees/education-programs

[10] https://www.novaregion.org/DocumentCenter/View/247/OTFFinalReport12703?bidId=

[11] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/sites/publicworks/files/assets/documents/treeactionplan.pdf

[12] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/sites/publicworks/files/assets/documents/treeactionplan.pdf

[13] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/landdevelopment/public-facilities-manual

[14] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/trees/tree-preservation-and-planting-fund

Memo #2

Issue Summary

As urbanization continues to increase in Fairfax County, concerns over our current health of our urban forests become more critical. The urban forest that makes Fairfax County, is an important ecosystem that must be monitored and expanded. While the population has increased, tree canopy still covers more than 57% of Fairfax County[i]. We must continue this drive to protect these natural resources and create a strategic plan that will insure the protection and expansion of our urban forest.  

Background

In 2005, the Board of Supervisors chairman, challenged the Fairfax County Tree Commission to create a plan that would manage and enhance the county’s forests and trees. A 30-year goal was planned that Fairfax Country tree canopy would be at 45% by 2037[ii]. Through breakthroughs in technology and growth of trees, an Urban Tree Canopy Assessment (UTC) was done in 2017, revealing that current canopy levels are at 57%2. The Tree Action Plan (TAP) for 2019 was then updated that there would be no net loss of tree canopy from the 2017 analysis2.

Policy Options  

  • Continuing to update/monitor the percentage of tree canopy.
    • Conduct inventories to determine vegetative cover types and condition2.
  • Protect and improve urban forests.  
    • Manage the Fairfax County urban forest and natural open space to promote ecosystem services and biodiversity2.
  • Expand the tree canopy to areas that are lacking.
    • Plant and protect trees on residential and commercial properties, public lands, and adjacent to streams, streets, and trails2.
  • Improve urban forestry policies and processes.       
    • Strengthen state legislation that promotes forest health2.
    • Support and refine the county’s urban forestry programs2.
  • Communicate and build partnerships.

Pros and Cons

  • This initiative can bring together multiple interest groups together in helping maintain current forests and trees. A collaboration of groups can work towards a common goal while assisting each other with resources and materials.
  • Trees not only take in carbon dioxide but clean the air we breathe as well. Shade from tree canopy, also helps houses save money on electricity in the summer and winter months.
  • Trees improve soil quality and are effective in getting storm water into the ground, rather than flooding the drains.
  • One consequence of having more trees will be the increase in potential damage they can cause should they fall over.

Recommendations

  • The Fairfax County Tree Commission goal of no net loss of tree canopy is a fair goal to maintain. Urban areas with no canopy cover or considered lacking, will need to be a focus in maintaining equity amongst Fairfax County citizens.
  • Provide incentives for private landowners to keep and grow trees on their property.

[i] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/tree-commission

[ii] https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/sites/publicworks/files/assets/documents/treeactionplan.pdf

Memo #3

Issue Summary

The goal of the Tree Action Plan in Fairfax County is to increase the tree cover within the county (Forest, n.d.).  Fairfax county is particularly interested in raising the amount of tree cover relative to the amount of impervious ground.  This will provide the county with a multitude of ecological services as well as improve the aesthetics and quality of living in the county.  While this program has been fairly successful thus far, it remains a very important aspect for the county to continue to improve upon.

Background

Fairfax County under their Urban Forestry Management has developed a Tree Action Plan to help encourage a higher density of trees within the county.  This plan has been a success thus far from data compared between 2011 and 2015 (Forest, n.d.) but there is still room for the county to continue to improve.  Identifying ways that have been successful thus far as well as ways that will allow the county to continue to have success into the future is important.

Trees provide an extremely valuable ecological service.  Forest help mitigate pollution problems, reduce overland water flow and resulting erosion, store carbon, provide shade rather than reflect heat,  provide recreation areas, and many other benefits (Czaja, 2020; Escobedo, 2020).   Fairfax County is primarily a suburban region, but uses the term urban forest as it is a more appropriate description of the county’s forests, as well as how these forest function ecologically (fairfaxcounty.gov, n.d.; Czaja, 2020).  Trees are the primary feature of an urban forests, but areas of grass, shrubs, or other green areas are also counted towards the total urban forest land (Escobedo, 2020).  When possible, Fairfax does try to keep tree cover itself as its own measurement separate from urban forest on occasion when it’s possible, on GIS maps, but the technology does not always permit the two from being calculated separately given the size of Fairfax County (Tree, 2020).  Urban forests, and tree cover in particular are an important metric by which to measure the overall environmental quality of the county.  The recreation areas provided by trees are a very valuable asset to the county.  Tree cover is shown to improve quality of life as well as increase home value (Benefits, n.d.). Tree cover is used as a measurement as opposed to actual tree density counts as it is a much more readily calculated figure from GIS information (Tree, 2020).  Fairfax County is particularly interested in the ratio of forested area to that of impervious surfaces such as buildings or asphalt and how this is changing over time (Forest, n.d.). 

Policy options

  • Zoning 
    • Re-zoning/dedicating more land to parks
    • Requiring greater tree cover for any new development plans
      • Current Virginia state and Fairfax county codes (Know, n.d.)
        • https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/trees/rules
    • Re-zoning certain areas to protect existing forested areas
    • Analyzing zoning policies that have been effective in other localities 
    • Increase the number of tree planting events as well as increase the areas that are selected for new tree plantings
      • Highway medians
      • Open fields not in use for other purposes     
  • Programs to help pay for trees that citizens can request and plant themselves
    • Similar programs are used in other locations such as Clayton County, WI (Conservation, n.d.)
    • Incorporates citizen engagement in the process while reducing their upfront costs by offering them trees at a reduced rate 
    • Encourages community involvement which tend to have high approval and success
    • Ability for these trees to be planted on private property that the county would otherwise not have access to
  • Forest pest management (Forest, n.d.)
    • Several pest factors are current threats to tree populations in the county
      • Emerald ash borer 
      • Gypsy month
      • Fall cankerworm
    • Increased monitoring to detect a change in threats that are facing in forested areas in Fairfax
    • Allow for citizens to report and address pest related issues.
  • Tree disease management 
    • Similar to pest disease is a treat to Fairfax’s forests
      • Oak wilt
    • Allow for easier citizen reporting of tree diseases
      • Could model it after Hawaii’s Rapid Ohia Death monitoring programs where citizens can report and even send in test samples to confirm disease presence (Sample, n.d.)
  • Invasive species management
    • Invasive species are a threat to the native trees and ecosystems in Fairfax

Pros

  • Between 2011 and 2015 current policies have increased tree cover so current policies are already working
  • Support for increasing trees makes policy easier to approve (Roberts, 2020)
  • The ecological services of tree are far more valuable than the cost associated with them (Escobedo, 2020)
  • Techniques and strategies to plant more trees are already something that is known to be effective, and the county already has the resources to increase this
  • More parks would offer more option to the counties residents and could increase home values and improve quality of life (Escobedo, 2020)

Cons

  • Zoning options are limited as many areas in the county have already been developed.
    • This can mostly only impact any new construction projects
  • The very high population density of Fairfax requires that maintaining certain infrastructures and services will be a priority over tree cover
  • Pest/disease/invasive species management are all time consuming and costly and hard to measure with the current techniques
  • Maintaining trees after they have been planted requires continual resources
  • Increasing park areas could be viewed as a loss in tax revenue and opposed by development groups
  • Disease, pest, and invasive species management would require dedicated resources from biologist and might be counterproductive and costly for the county
  • Getting knowledge about programs out to the community requires outreach that isn’t always well done

Recommendations

  • Seasonal events similar to the Clayton, WI program (Conservation, n.d.) to distribute trees to citizens at a highly reduces cost.  Since the county would be buying these trees in bulk and distributing them, they would also be able to ensure that only native species were included. This would engage citizens as part of the process as well as help get trees planted on many areas without the county needing to be involved with the planting or maintenance.  By involving the community hopefully this will encourage stakeholders to continue future tree planting events as well as provide maintenance to the trees they planted freeing up county resources for other tasks.
  • Continue to require more trees be included in any new projects before they are approved by the county zoning board (Know, n.d.).  Zoning regulation on all new construction has shown to be successful so there is no reason to end what has worked well.
  • Identify which parts of the county have had the greatest increases to study why this might be happening 

Work Cited:

Benefits of planting trees: Public works and environmental services. (n.d.). Retrieved March 02, 2021, from https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/trees/benefits-planting-trees

Conservation tree program. (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://claycountymn.gov/322/Conservation-Tree-Program

Czaja, M., Kolton, A., & Muras, P. (2020). The complex issue of urban trees-stress factor accumulation and ecological service possibilities. Forests, 11(9), 932–.      https://doi.org/10.3390/f11090932

Escobedo, F., Kroeger, T., & Wagner, J. (2011). Urban forests and pollution mitigation: Analyzing ecosystem services and disservices. Environmental Pollution (1987), 159(8), 2078–2087.     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2011.01.010

Forest management in Fairfax County, public works and environmental services. (n.d.).   Retrieved March 02, 2021, from             https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/trees/about

Know the rules: Urban forestry policies and standards: Public works and environmental  services. (n.d.). Retrieved March 02, 2021, from             https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/trees/rules

Roberts, D. (2020, June 23). US public opinion supports action on climate change – and has for years. Retrieved March 02, 2021, from https://www.vox.com/energy-and-     environment/2020/6/23/21298065/climate-clean-energy-public-opinion-poll-trends-      pew

Sampling for rapid ʻōhiʻa death. (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu/rod/THE-DISEASE/SAMPLING

Tree canopy and impervious surface estimate: GIS and mapping services. (2020, August 25). Retrieved March 02, 2021, from https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/maps/tree-canopy-and- impervious-surface-estimator-released