The environment will take center stage across Fairfax County over the next two days, thanks to an abundance of Arbor Day and Earth Day festivities.
The county’s headliner is the annual Earth Day Fairfax festival, which has relocated to Lake Fairfax Park (1400 Lake Fairfax Drive) in Reston this year after previously taking place at the Sully Historic Site in Chantilly.
An annual event promoting the preservation of a wooded area in Tysons return this weekend.
Led by Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, the third annual Tysons Forest Cleanup will be held on Sunday (April 12) to “maintain the health” of the 65-acre “hidden green oasis,” county officials announced.
Officially, Arbor Day won’t be recognized in Virginia until the end of April, but Reston Association will get a head start on observing the occasion with a volunteer event at the end of March.
The homeowners’ association is inviting community members to help clean up and enhance some of its natural areas next Tuesday (March 31) from 9:30 to noon.
Fairfax County is teaming up with the Arbor Day Foundation to give away free trees to residents as part of its efforts to nurture the local tree canopy.
Starting today (Tuesday), all county residents can sign up online to receive up to two one-gallon trees that will be delivered directly to their homes, according to the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services’ (DPWES) Urban and Community Forestry Division.
After months of negotiations and pressure from both elected officials and community members, Dominion Energy and NOVA Parks have settled on a new path forward for managing trees near power lines along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad Regional Park.
Dominion and the regional park authority, which owns and manages the 45-mile-long W&OD Trail, have reached an agreement governing vegetation management activities that, among other provisions, requires the utility to provide advanced notice of any major maintenance work and to plant native species in affected areas when possible.
With the new year underway, Dominion Energy is gearing up for another round of tree maintenance along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail, shifting its focus to the Reston area.
The power company has flagged 19 “hazard” trees near its electrical lines for removal in a 2.7-mile stretch of the trail between its Hunter Mill Road substation in Wolf Trap and the Reston substation on Sunset Hills Road, Dominion Electric Transmission Forestry Manager Amanda Keyes told NOVA Parks Executive Director Justin Wilson in a Dec. 16 letter.
As Christmas trees start popping up throughout the region, Fairfax County is wrapping up a multiyear effort to revise regulations around trees used by developers.
At a meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ environmental committee on Nov. 25, county officials provided an update on proposed changes to the tree planting recommendations in its public facilities manual.
Fairfax City could establish a new urban forestry division in the next one to five years to promote tree preservation.
A draft of the city’s new Urban Forest Master Plan, which will be presented to the planning commission today (Dec. 8), envisions two new technicians, an urban forester, and part-time administrative support dedicated to helping implement stronger conservation practices and expand its tree canopy. There would also be a shared GIS technician/analyst.
Local nonprofit Friends of Reston has brought new life to its Friends of Trees Tree Fund program, doubling down on its efforts to help preserve Reston’s lush tree canopy by encouraging the community to plant more trees.
The program has existed since at least 2012 but experienced a slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Kathleen Driscoll, president of Friends of Reston, which supports Reston Association through private fundraising and charitable, educational and scientific activities.
An urban forester and arborist who worked for Fairfax County was among the two people who died earlier this month in a house fire in the Herndon area.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay identified Toni Woods and her husband as the victims of the Nov. 6 fire when the board convened on Tuesday (Nov. 18) for its only November meeting.
