Some tree trimmings and removals were expected when Dominion Energy initated a project last year to replace electrical lines in the Vienna section of the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail, but the extent of the clearings has taken local residents, elected officials and even the agency that owns the trail by surprise.
Starting in November, the utility began cutting down trees and vegetation along a 4-mile stretch of the trail from Vienna to Dunn Loring at a much more “aggressive” scale than it has in the past, according to Paul Gilbert, executive director of the Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority (NOVA Parks).
“They were essentially clear-cutting it from one edge [of the trail property] to the other, and taking down anything that had even a potential to grow over 15 feet,” Gilbert told FFXnow. “It might be a little cedar that’s 5 feet tall, but it has potential to grow taller. So, they just were taking out everything, and that was a departure from how they had behaved in the past.”
The cutting has extended to trees on the Vienna Town Green, according to Mayor Linda Colbert, who says she’s “received many emails and comments from residents expressing their displeasure of this situation.”
NOVA Parks has also gotten concerned emails from community members, including six people who reached out just this week. In one shared with FFXnow, a resident reported that the trees along their street were “completely wiped out” down to the trail, and another noted that Vienna has been contending with declining tree canopy for years.
Dominion backed out of 20-year-old agreement
While Dominion has an easement along the W&OD Trail that allows it to remove trees, the utility had previously adhered to a memorandum of understanding with NOVA Parks that governed all vegetative management. The voluntary agreement was developed in 2005 after similarly extensive clearings at the time ignited a “firestorm of public opposition,” Gilbert says.
This time, when NOVA Parks questioned the tree removals, Dominion shared that it was terminating the MOU, which limited cutting to trees at direct risk of interfering with power lines (typically those that exceeded 15 feet in height) and committed the utility to re-planting trees it took down.
Dominion’s withdrawal from the agreement raised concerns among parks officials and Fairfax County and Vienna leaders that the utility not only won’t address the damage caused in Vienna and Dunn Loring, but it might take the same approach to other parts of the trail that coincide with electrical lines, such as Reston.
“It makes sense that this is not just about one four miles of this 45-mile trail,” Gilbert said. “If they’re going to apply that methodology here, they’re going to apply it in other places.”
Increased energy demand fuels power line projects
Dominion Energy began preliminary site work last July to replace a 4-mile-long transmission line, known as a reconductor, between its Clark substation (375 Center Street) near Caboose Tavern in Vienna to the Idylwood substation at 7701 Shreve Road.
The project is being implemented in two phases, starting with a 2.8-mile segment from the Clark substation to Sandburg Street in Vienna and then focusing on the remaining 1.1 miles from Gallows Road to the Idylwood substation.
While the initial work consisted mostly of clearing brush so construction equipment could be staged, the actual wire replacement required a temporary closure of the W&OD Trail in November. Another closure for the second phase is expected before the project wraps up this summer.
According to Dominion Energy, the Clark-Idylwood project represents its first “significant” effort at forestry maintenance in the W&OD corridor since the MOU was signed in 2005.
“Since that time, the tree growth in the area has become an unacceptable risk to the safety and reliability of the grid,” Dominion spokesperson Craig Carper said.
The past two decades have seen a surge in demand for energy — fueled by Northern Virginia’s growing population, development and, most recently, data centers — necessitating upgrades to the electrical infrastructure. In addition to the Vienna-area overhaul, Dominion has been working on projects in Loudoun County, where transmission lines that currently follow the W&OD Trail are being relocated to the Route 7 corridor.
New federal regulations have also been introduced since 2005, Dominion says, including tree-clearance standards for electric transmission lines that handle 200 kilovolts or more. The new Clark-Idylwood line is designed to handle up to 230 kilovolts.
“Dominion Energy is now subject to fines of up to $1M per day, per violation, including the unacceptable and severe risk to the safety of the community,” Carper said by email. “Given our present-day context and the essential importance of maintaining safe and reliable electric transmission, Dominion Energy had to terminate the MOU.”
Pollinator gardens proposed as alternative
However, the end of the MOU didn’t come with any offer of an alternative agreement or commitment to restore the affected parts of the W&OD Trail. Dominion indicated it would provide a re-planting plan, but nothing was ever produced, Gilbert says, noting that he doesn’t object to cutting trees that pose a legitimate hazard to the power lines.
To prevent the cleared areas from being overtaken by invasive plants, a common challenge for former railroad beds like the one that the W&OD Trail was built on, NOVA Parks proposed on Dec. 12 that Dominion install pollinator gardens with wildflowers, native species and small trees like dogwoods that won’t grow tall enough to threaten the electrical lines.
In addition to enhancing the park’s biodiversity and the aesthetic experience for trail users, pollinator gardens or meadows would save Dominion money in the long run, since they wouldn’t have to cut down trees in the future, according to Gilbert.
He acknowledged that cultivating pollinator gardens is a multi-year effort, involving the arduous work of pulling out existing invasive species, planting new seeds, and maintaining the plots long-term. A rough estimate suggested it would take close to $200,000 right now to fully restore the 23 acres of land that will be affected by the Clark-Idylwood project by the end of March.
“That’s the magnitude of what it would take, and if this is going to be a pattern going forward in terms of the level of cutting on the trail, we need a plan,” Gilbert said. “We can’t have this kind of issue every time aggressive cutting is done.”
Citing the ongoing financial costs, Dominion initially rejected the proposal at a Jan. 9 meeting, where it instead offered NOVA Parks a one-time contribution of $50,000.
According to the Dominion spokesperson, the amount was calculated by the utility’s “internal experts,” but Gilbert says it was “insufficient” and failed to acknowledge the long-term impact of tree clearings on the W&OD Trail, both as a natural resource and a park utilized by thousands of people for travel and recreation.
The meeting concluded with Dominion and NOVA Parks officials agreeing to tour the trail to identify the most heavily affected areas and to develop a cost estimate for restoring them. But no specific mitigation plan emerged, and the utility suggested that the Reston area may be targeted next, Gilbert said in a Jan. 10 memo to Fairfax County officials.
Gilbert told FFXnow that the mention of Reston “was probably a misstatement in terms of what they wanted to share.” Dominion doesn’t have any Reston projects currently in the works, and Carper says they’re just focused on the Vienna-Dunn Loring project for now.
“We will continue to evaluate what is needed along other portions of the trail at the appropriate time in order to maintain the electrical needs of our current and future customers,” Carper said.
Elected officials voice concerns
In response to Gilbert’s memo, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay, Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn and Delegate Holly Seibold (D-12) all sent letters to Dominion Energy Virginia President Edward Baine on Feb. 6, expressing concern about the extensive tree-cutting and the lack of a new agreement.
“I understand the importance of Dominion’s mission to safeguard its infrastructure and provide reliable electricity,” wrote Seibold, whose district includes Vienna. “However, the damage inflicted by removing mature trees opens the door to invasive species, diminishes the park’s appearance and value during hot summer months, and reduces its environmental benefits, such as shade, habitat preservation, and air quality improvement.”
McKay backed NOVA Parks’ proposal for pollinator gardens as the “preferred approach,” and Alcorn, who represents the Vienna and Reston areas, called for a new agreement “that prioritizes both your infrastructure needs and environmental stewardship” to be in place before any additional tree clearing.
Colbert says the Town of Vienna is also advocating for a plan to replace the eliminated trees with native species that will “restore a shady and natural buffer that residents and trail users appreciated and satisfy Dominion’s height requirements to protect its newly installed power infrastructure.”
“The Town Manager, Parks and Recreation Director, and I are continuing to meet with Dominion and NOVA Parks to share residents’ concerns,” Colbert told FFXnow.
Long-term plan now in development, Dominion says
Under growing pressure from NOVA Parks, elected officials and community members, Dominion now appears to be coming around to the possibility of a new tree management agreement.
In a Feb. 19 response to McKay and Alcorn, Baine said the utility is “currently developing a long-term plan” involving pollinator habitats and enhanced control of invasive species that it anticipates sharing with NOVA Parks by the end of the month.
Carper, the Dominion spokesperson, declined to share further details of the proposal yesterday (Wednesday), stating that “would be premature.” Dominion is scheduled to meet with NOVA Parks and other stakeholders again “later this week,” and the plan will be made public once it’s finalized, he said.
“We’re committed to continue to work with the county to reach the best practical plan for planting gardens of native pollinator along the 4-mile project area,” Carper said. “We will do so in a way that respects the natural landscape without exposing our transmission lines to potentially harmful growth.”
The promise of a long-term plan has left local officials more optimistic than they were earlier this month.
“I’m encouraged that Dominion Energy recognizes the need to develop a long-term plan to avoid the impacts of widespread tree culling,” Alcorn said yesterday to FFXnow. “I look forward to learning more about their proposal to work with NOVA Parks to restore the areas where they have cut trees along the trail.”
Gilbert similarly called the latest turn of events “very encouraging,” adding that Dominion has been collaborative in the past, including with efforts to tackle invasive species.
“They can be a good partner in taking care of the environment on the trail,” Gilbert said. “It’s just this most recent approach to cutting the trees that is a departure from how they’ve behaved in the past and has not shown a full appreciation for needing to restore the area in a proactive way so that it’s not just covered with invasive species and just a mess for years to come.”
