Tree preservation proposals likely lower priority among Fairfax County’s state legislature asks

While the environment is generally a priority for Fairfax County, issues related to trees and invasive plants appear likely to take a backseat to other concerns when local elected officials lobby their state counterparts in the General Assembly next year.

At its legislative committee meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 15), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors reviewed a number of proposals for promoting tree conservation and addressing invasive species from the Fairfax County Tree Commission and Environmental Quality Advisory Council (EQAC).

However, the supervisors and county staff sounded skeptical that the specific recommendations could succeed in the state legislature, suggesting that a broader approach might be more prudent.

“There isn’t [a comprehensive policy solution], and if there was, it wouldn’t be passed by the legislature or signed into law by Gov. Youngkin,” Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw said during a Tuesday (Oct. 15) meeting of the supervisors’ legislative committee .

Walkinshaw, who chairs the committee, urged his colleagues to “find the narrow, targeted opportunities [and] build a bipartisan coalition to get something across the finish line.”

Authority on environmental issues in Virginia is vested in Richmond, where elected leaders are often at loggerheads. In all but rare cases, localities lack independent authority to set their own policies.

Bipartisanship can sometimes be achieved in Richmond. This year, the General Assembly passed and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed a bill by Del. Rip Sullivan (D-6) that allowed Northern Virginia localities to grant more credits for preserving tree canopy to land developers.

However, legislation seeking to shorten the time developers in Vienna have to meet tree canopy requirements and restrict sales of invasive plants ran into roadblocks.

At Tuesday’s meeting, county staff presented recommendations from EQAC and the tree commission to support state legislation incentivizing tree preservation and plantings, along with measures that would let localities ban invasive plant sales.

Proposal A: Support legislation to continue to adequately fund the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program’s (VCAP) ability to provide financial incentives and educational assistance to property owners installing eligible native trees and using low-impact planting practices to address stormwater and erosion issues. Also support legislation that would help ensure that all residents of Virginia’s 8,810 community associations have the ability to leverage this program without being prohibited by property community association covenants from installing conservation landscaping.
Proposal B: Support legislation that would allow localities to adopt ordinances banning or imposing a surcharge on the sale of the most damaging of invasive plant species which are threatening the viability of countless trees in parklands and forested areas across Virginia.
Proposal C: Support legislation establishing a study to assess the benefits and impacts of permitting systems to preserve healthy, mature native trees in urban forests, including, but not limited to, resource protection areas, riparian buffers, and flood plains. The study topics could include the application process, use of a professional consulting arborist assessment in the process, homeowner requirements to demonstrate the need to remove the identified tree, and whether fees for failure to get a permit or failure to abide by the permit requirements might be effective.
Proposal D: Support legislation to ensure the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), as well as other state and local agencies, have a directive and the authority and capability to mitigate the loss of tree canopy as a result of transportation projects.
Proposal E: Support legislation requiring retailers to post signs next to any plant species offered for sale that appears on the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) list of invasive plants that may cause environmental harm.
Proposal F: Support funding for strategies identified in the Virginia Invasive Species Management Plan, including an estimation of the economic impact of invasive species in Virginia and adequate funding for state agencies involved in invasive removal activities.
Proposal G: Support legislation that provides incentives to enhance urban tree canopy.
Proposal H: Support legislation that would grant localities increased flexibility and additional authority to promote tree preservation and conservation, by, for example, increasing their own minimum tree canopy requirements and the extent of tree preservation in the planning and zoning process.

Though the board didn’t address any of the proposals in detail, county staff said the gist of some of the requests is reflected in broader language that will be in the 2 025 legislative priorities package .

After a final draft begins to circulate later this month, the Board of Supervisors is slated to hold a public hearing on Nov. 19, followed by formal adoption. The 2025 General Assembly will convene on Jan. 8 for what is expected to be a 46-day session.