City of Killing Trees

Known as the “City of Trees”, Washington DC has an arboreal history that defines the landscape of the nation’s capital. Since the city’s foundation, trees have been a defining feature embedded into the culture and tourism as an essential design-component for the capital city. The cherry blossoms surrounding the Tidal Basin, heritage trees linings the national mall, and the national arboretum are among the strongholds from the landscape as the City of Trees. Yet why are these historic trees being killed?

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Conserving these trees is not only preserving history, but retaining a valuable resource for the cityscape and topography. Trees, especially heritage trees, are of substantial size and prominence that; help clean the air, lower energy costs of the surrounding community, provide shade cover, and beautify the neighborhoods throughout DC. Real estate markets demonstrate mature trees increase the value of homes and creates a scenic icon for neighborhoods. Without sufficiently conserving these trees, they are ultimately doomed to development.

Recently, outrage has been spurring over removal of heritage trees for new housing and retail developments. Heritage trees as defined by the Tree Canopy Amendment Protection Act of 2016, are trees that have a circumference of 100 inches or more, and have likely been a part of the landscape for hundreds of years. However, a well-documented loophole in the current DC law allows developers to illegally cut down these historic trees to the dismay of city arborists and bystanders. These magnificent century-old giants are at the mercy of fees per-inch-of-circumference, rather than true protection under the law. To many developers, the property value of their development is worth the $300.00 per inch fine associated with assonating heritage trees - history be dammed, development is worth more.

Consistent gaps in the urban forestry protection laws have been hindering the success of the City of Trees. The Critical Root Zones and Structural Root Zones in and around the roots of trees are areas meant to be protected during construction projects. Little enforcement and power to inspect the tress preservations during construction projects has led to the death of many of the District’s trees. In a recent uproar, the DC tree laws came under scrutiny for their lack of police-power dedicated to actually preserving these heritage trees. Developers in Takoma cut down towering oak trees while city arborists stood helplessly by while these trees fell. A hefty fine is not enough to insight preservation of these steadfast trees. Granting stronger ordinances and police-power to city arborists is an option being discussed by DC policy makers to issue stop-work permits and protect these trees – but is it enough to reverse the irreputable damage already done?

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??Sources:

Casey Trees. (2022). Illegal Heritage Tree Removal Highlights Need for Stronger Tree Protections. The Leaflet.

Fenston, J. (2022). Developer in Takoma Cuts Protected Heritage Tree, over Protests from Neighbors. National Public Radio.?

The Council of the District of Columbia. (2016). The Urban Forestry Preservation Act of 2016.

The Government of the District of Columbia. (2022) Tree Preservation. District Department of Transportation.?