Tree City USA

According to the Falls Church Times, the City of Falls Church "has maintained a Tree City USA designation for at least 31 years, longer than any other municipal entity in Virginia. The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. The City qualifies because it has an urban forestry program overseen by a professional arborist, has an annual forestry work plan implemented by a tree care ordinance, funds the program through the annual budget, and organizes an Arbor Day observance."

That is part of why we had to have a tree preservation plan, and a replacement plan that provides a specific 10-year canopy coverage. The folks from Terra Landscape and Design were back at work on our property today, planting several trees for us, including:

- River Birch
- Yellow Wood
- Red Maple
- Canadian Serviceberry (2)
- Fringe Tree

Here are some photos of the installation from two weeks ago as Terra Landscape was planting them, and below that are five pictures showing how the new trees look today.

And today (May 1):

River Birch

Yellow Wood

Two Canadian Serviceberry Trees

Red Maple

Fringe Tree

Thanks, Jeff!

On Saturday, the rain continued for most of the day. It's good to have a stream at the back of the lot for the water to flow away. Here's a pic I snapped.

Our friend Jeff offered to help with anything that needed to be done on the lot on Sunday afternoon. I said the only thing that was on my immediate to-do list was manually moving the heavy, wet clay (dirt) behind the tree preservation fence. No machines can go back there to grade, so everything has to be done by hand. Jeff agreed to help with that back-breaking work. I had a dinner plans with another good friend, Quay, who was in DC from Colorado on business, so we stopped working after a few hours and noticed that it hardly looks like anything was done. There's a lot more dirt left to move. But my muscles are sore today to prove I worked! The photo below doesn't do a great job showing the pile of dirt that remains to be moved.

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

On Tuesday morning, during an ice and snow storm, we woke up before the crack of dawn and headed to JMB Fabricators in Annapolis, MD to purchase 45' of root protection matting and 100 landscaping nails to install the matting. We had no idea what to expect, but it's a good thing we took my Ranger instead of Andreas's Volkswagen Golf. The 13' long roll was thick and orange. The nice folks at JMB helped us load the roll onto my truck and fasten it down (thanks, Dad, for the ratchet tie-down straps you gave me a while back!). Some people likened the end result to a modern-day Oscar Mayer Wienermobile driving from Annapolis to downtown DC. See for yourself - Andreas jumped out of the truck to snap this photo at the red light at the intersection of Rhode Island & Connecticut Avenues, NW.


Versus












After work, we went back to the lot to install the Root Protection Matting. It still was sleeting and freezing rain, mixed with some snow, but we had to get it installed so the City's urban forester could inspect our tree protection measures. The landscape nails were no competition for the frozen ground and compacted gravel driveway, where we were installing the matting. The gravel won. We could only get about 1/2 of the landscape nails in; the rest bent wildly as we attempted the install. The next morning, Andreas and I each visited Home Depot to get progressively more aggressive in our approach to install this matting. Ultimately, the galvanized spikes saved the day and the matting was installed per the tree protection plan. Yay!

Here's the lot with the matting installed:

We passed the tree preservation inspection with flying colors. And now the construction entrance has been installed by Bartley Corporation. I have not seen the gravel construction entrance but will drive by the lot tomorrow!

The Final (?) Word on Trees, for now

The decision has been made -- with many thanks to those who both posted comments and emailed your input privately. The maple tree will go. BUT, it will be replaced with another maple tree, and a multitude of other new trees on the lot. One friend, who always offers sage advice, suggested:

"if you cut it down, can you somehow take the seeds from it to plant elsewhere? That way, the tree wouldn't technically be "gone," just moved and given a second chance."

We'll give that a try and see how it works. We'll also work hard to ensure the tree is not turned into mulch, but cared for appropriately so it can be made into beautiful furniture that will live for many years to come in someone's home. Who said that you never get a second chance to make a first impression?!?!

In order to provide adequate canopy coverage in accordance with the City of Falls Church guidelines, we were informed today by Care of Trees (the consultants we hired for the tree preservation plan) that we needed to coverage on 900 sq.ft. of the lot, based on a 10 year sq.ft. coverage projection. We've selected the following trees:

Tree	Location	Points
Red Maple	Front yard/west side of lot (replaces maple to be cut down)	145
Red Bud	NorthEast side of courtyard wall	96
Paw Paw	In courtyard area - to the East of the Red Bud	75
Canada Service Berry	Back yard behind house - 1st tree at North side of lot	96
Tulip Poplar	Back yard behind house - 2nd tree at North side of lot - very NorthEast corner	202
Fringe Tree	Back yard behind house - Slightly SouthWest of Tulip Poplar	65
Yellow Wood	Back yard behind house - very SouthEast corner of lot	145
Sum		824

Including a diversity of trees, rather than repetition, should give us bonus points of 10%, which puts us just over 900 sq.ft. coverage -- the threshold we have to meet. We'll see if the tree experts agree that this is a good plan, or if it's a disaster waiting to happen. When building a house, I never imagined we'd spend this much time on "trees", but they're important and add so much value. The return on the investment will be immeasurable.

Tree Preservation, Part 2

I've been thinking more about that old maple tree and whether we should replace it or try to save it. For the required canopy coverage, we probably need that tree to have enough points. (Although replanting new trees will get us points too.) However, we will have to dig a trench from the front of the lot to the house in order to bring the utilities from the street to the house. Given the location of the electricity connection at the street, that means the trench must pass right through the maple tree. Trenching around the tree surely will harm its root system. And given the age of the tree, the roots certainly are across the entire 40' width of our lot. So anywhere we trench will damage the roots, right?

While the "greenest" option might be saving the tree, cutting the tree down and using the wood in some way on the property and planting a new tree in that spot also would be green. It's not an easy decision to take a life. Stay tuned.

Tree Preservation

Like us, the City of Falls Church is progressive and environmentally conscious. As part of the building permit process, we have to submit a tree preservation plan. Yesterday morning, I met with the city arborist, who is a great guy and extremely helpful, and the company that's developing the plan for us. All of the trees on the property have suffered from years of neglect. When building green, it's ideal to save as many mature trees as possible. We also want to ensure the trees are appropriate for our region and non-invasive. Some trees are so badly damaged that they'll need to be removed. We'll replant with appropriate new trees.

One of the biggest decisions, though, is what to do with an old, red maple tree that's at the very front of the lot. As you can see in this photo take late last Autumn, the tree has some storm damage and vines growing throughout the entire tree (English Ivy and poison ivy).


It will cost $$ and significant effort to protect the tree from construction activity and bring it back to a beautiful state. But there's always a chance the tree won't survive construction -- ours or the inevitable next-door construction after someone buys that old, dilapidated, white farmhouse and tears it down to build a new home.

We're fairly certain we're going to work to save this tree and clean it up, rather than cutting it down and planting a new one. Any and all thoughts are welcome, though.