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Fairfax County leaders are pressing Dominion Energy to stop widespread tree removal along the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, warning that the utility’s plans could affect hundreds of acres of parkland.
At the request of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 9-0 on Tuesday, March 18, for a resolution urging Dominion to halt plans to remove trees that could eventually interfere with overhead power lines along the 45-mile trail.
The resolution asks Dominion to return to selective pruning, adopt a height limit that permits a broader range of native vegetation, control invasive plants and create pollinator gardens where trees are removed.
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who introduced the measure, said Dominion has indicated it intends to remove most trees and prohibit vegetation along the 33 miles where the trail overlaps with electrical transmission lines.
That section extends from Shirlington to Leesburg. The Arlington and Loudoun county boards approved similar resolutions Tuesday night, and Fairfax County Board Chairman Jeff McKay said the Falls Church City Council was expected to do the same.
“The plan’s alarming. What we’re asking for here is a middle ground,” McKay said. He added that officials do not want to interfere with reliable electricity but believe the trail’s parkland can be managed through a more controlled approach.
Earlier agreement abandoned
Dominion began removing trees along four miles of the trail in Vienna and Dunn Loring last November while replacing a 230-kilovolt transmission line between its Idylwood and Clark substations.
After NOVA Parks questioned the extent of the work, Dominion said it was withdrawing from a voluntary vegetation-management agreement that had been in place since 2005. That agreement generally limited removal to trees posing an immediate threat to power lines and required the utility to replace felled trees.
Dominion has said trees in the area present “an unacceptable risk to the safety and reliability of the grid” as infrastructure is upgraded to meet rising energy demand. The utility also said the old agreement no longer aligned with federal regulations that have changed since 2005.
NOVA Parks officials, however, have objected to both the scale of the clearing and Dominion’s apparent reluctance to negotiate a replacement agreement that would include substantial restoration.
At a Jan. 9 meeting, Dominion offered a one-time payment of $50,000. NOVA Parks Executive Director Paul Gilbert called that insufficient compared with the ecological damage, which he said includes lost tree canopy and greater opportunities for invasive plants to spread.
In response to Feb. 6 letters from McKay, Alcorn and Del. Holly Seibold, a Democrat representing District 12, Dominion Energy President Ed Baines said the company was developing a long-term plan involving pollinator gardens and invasive-species management.
Dominion proposes 50 acres of meadows
A proposal shared with NOVA Parks on Feb. 28 calls for planting pollinator meadows across 50 acres, managing invasive species along the entire trail and replanting native vegetation under an existing Integrated Vegetation Management plan. That plan promotes early successional habitat within transmission rights of way.
A Dominion spokesperson said such habitats provide food and shelter for wildlife, including pollinators, ground-nesting birds and native plant species. The spokesperson said expanded invasive-species control would also encourage a native plant community.
NOVA Parks maintains that Dominion’s offer remains too limited for the amount of land that could be affected.
“The plans they have now would impact hundreds of acres,” Gilbert said. “They have currently agreed to replant just 50 acres in the meadow, with no commitment to more trees other than the Vienna Town Green. They need to cut much less and plant much more.”
Gilbert said Dominion confirmed during a recent meeting with NOVA Parks, Fairfax County and the Town of Vienna that it planned to expand the clearing. According to Gilbert, the group was told that 33 miles of the trail would be cleared over the next two years.
Dominion had previously indicated that Reston would be next. The Clark-Idylwood transmission project is expected to conclude this summer.
Gilbert welcomed the Fairfax board’s unanimous resolution and said NOVA Parks hoped Dominion would stop the cutting, adopt a selective approach and undertake extensive replanting with native vegetation, including trees. The NOVA Parks board was also expected to discuss the dispute in a closed session at its 7:30 p.m. Thursday meeting.
Dominion said it is conducting “a comprehensive engineering review” to refine the scope and schedule of the work. Its spokesperson noted that the trees under review are within the company’s right of way and said Dominion would comply with federal rules requiring utilities to limit vegetation encroachment on transmission lines.
The utility and NOVA Parks are continuing to work on a long-term plan intended to balance vegetation management with the need for a safe and reliable transmission grid.
The dispute echoes previous tree-clearing controversies in Northern Virginia. Gilbert said the now-canceled 2005 agreement followed opposition to earlier removals. Last year, community activists also persuaded the National Park Service to reconsider plans for clearing trees and vegetation during rehabilitation of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.