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The future of the W&OD Trail’s celebrated green corridor could take a new turn after Dominion Energy expressed interest in negotiating a vegetation-management agreement with NOVA Parks.
Paul Gilbert, executive director of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, said May 23 that Dominion had responded positively to a draft memorandum of understanding submitted on Arbor Day, April 25. The two organizations are arranging follow-up discussions, and Dominion is open to helping develop a restoration and replanting plan.
The talks follow Dominion’s clearing of a four-mile stretch in the Vienna and Dunn Loring area after suspending a previous agreement. The work alarmed residents and local officials concerned about habitat loss, reduced shade and the broader environmental effects of extensive tree removal.
Sometimes called Virginia’s skinniest park, the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park is about 100 feet wide and stretches 45 miles from Shirlington to Purcellville. Its paved trail, built along the former railroad bed, serves runners, cyclists and skaters, including commuters. A parallel gravel bridle path covers approximately 32 miles.
Trees and other vegetation lining the route provide shade and form a wildlife corridor through heavily developed Northern Virginia. Dominion, then known as VEPCO, purchased the property in 1968 for its transmission lines. It sold the land to NOVA Parks for $3.6 million in 1977 while retaining an easement allowing it to maintain those lines.
Gilbert said NOVA Parks is assembling arborists and landscape architects to create a replanting proposal while awaiting Dominion’s comments on the draft agreement. No follow-up meetings had occurred since the clearing, he said.
“The new MOU we are developing is primarily a response to cutting practices that the community considers unacceptable,” Gilbert said.
On March 18, the governing boards of Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties unanimously called on Dominion to stop cutting, adopt a selective approach and resume discussions with NOVA Parks. Falls Church, Vienna and Herndon later approved similar resolutions.
Gilbert said the coordinated response showed that Northern Virginians view the corridor as far more than a utility right of way. It is also one of Virginia’s most heavily used and valued parks, he said.
NOVA Parks and Dominion previously operated under an MOU governing vegetation management from 2005 through late 2024. Gilbert said that agreement arose after similarly aggressive cutting roughly 20 years ago. He noted that an MOU represents an agreement but may not be fully legally binding.
Dominion has maintained that its forestry work is necessary to protect the electrical system. In a March 26 letter to Gilbert, Dominion Energy Virginia Senior Vice President Joseph Woomer said significant maintenance had not been performed in the area for 20 years.
Tree growth could reach or fall onto the transmission lines, threatening customers’ service and the regional grid, Woomer wrote. He also said Dominion could face substantial penalties for failing to meet federal reliability requirements overseen by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.
After receiving community feedback, Dominion temporarily paused further forestry work. Woomer said the company had not determined the scope or schedule of any additional clearing and would first review the remaining trees and engage with the community.
Gilbert agreed that vegetation cannot be allowed to interfere with power lines. But he argued that reliable transmission infrastructure can coexist with an attractive park featuring trees, shrubs and flowering meadows.
The proposed agreement emphasizes native vegetation that supports pollinators, including flowers, meadow plants, bushes and trees. Gilbert said such plantings could significantly strengthen the trail’s biodiversity and ecological value.
The restoration effort would also target invasive species that crowd out native plants. With sustained attention, Gilbert said, the W&OD could become a garden-like corridor of native vegetation beneath the power lines.
Woomer said Dominion is working with NOVA Parks on a long-term plan for pollinator areas, low-growing native plants and improved invasive-species control along the entire trail. The goal, he wrote, is to support the park’s natural habitat without compromising the safe and reliable operation of the transmission system.