From tiny acorns emerge mighty oaks, and from a fledgling Website is growing a new local initiative to support tree canopy.
The new Arlington Consortium for Tree Sustainability is designed “to bring together and enable residents, businesses, organizations and advocates to pursue actions to enhance the tree canopy in all their neighborhoods and varied urban settings within our reach,” organizers say.
(Given that no organization in Arlington can go for long without an acronym, this one’s will be ACTS.)
The group’s Website – arltreeconsort.net – is decidedly a work in progress, but has a link to resources and also to a recent, resident-funded study that concluded Arlington’s overall tree canopy is far less than the 41 percent touted by the county government.
In fact, said activist Mary Glass speaking at the July 18 meeting of the county government’s Park and Recreation Commission, the study concluded that even if every available free space in the county is planted with trees, the canopy rate still would fall a few percentage points short of the county government’s estimate.
Glass touted the new consortium at the July 18 meeting, praising the Park and Recreation Commission for its four-page letter to County Board members, responding to the government’s draft Forestry and Natural Resources Plan currently out for public review and comment.
Glass, never shy about voicing her opinions, was somewhat critical of the draft plan as currently constructed.
“It’s confusing, repetitive – not the kind of strategic document we need,” she said, speaking for herself and not any advocacy group.
(The draft plan and related information can be found at https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Projects/FNRP.)
The master plan should be a big-picture document, leaving the details to an implementation document, Glass said.
“We need something that is much simpler, lays out the priorities in order . . . [and] it needs to have a sense of urgency,” she said.
Shruti Kuppa, who chairs the Park and Recreation Commission, said the panel appreciated the efforts of activist groups to press their case.
“I want to maintain that open communication,” she said.
