THE LEAFLET

February 29, 2016 /
Italia Peretti

Legislation Update

The Tree Canopy Protection Amendment Act (TCPAA) of 2015, introduced by Councilmembers Charles Allen (Ward 6) and Mary Cheh (Ward 3) in July 2015 is expected to come up for a vote by the Committee on Transportation and the Environment within the D.C. Council in the next few weeks.  If approved, it will go before the entire Council for a vote.

Regarded as the most the important tree focused legislation to come before the D.C. Council in more than a decade, the TCPAA, if passed, will protect more trees and empower the Urban Forestry Administration to plant trees on D.C.-owned schools and parks.

Casey Trees strongly supports the TCPAA but believes its impact can be made greater with three revisions our advocates are fighting for:

  1. Lowering the minimum designation to protect Special Trees from 55 to 40 inches in circumference.
  2. Closing the tree maintenance loopholes (which allow money to be used to remove trees).
  3. Better and more productive spending of  the Tree Fund.

So what does this mean for you?

Unfortunately, you will not have another opportunity to provide testimony in support of the bill in front of the Committee. That said, you can still influence the legislation and have your voice heard by signing our petition to the Council and Mayor’s office and contacting Councilmembers.  We will provide the signatures to the entire Council in advance of the bill’s markup hearing.

If you haven’t already, you can add your name to our petition and contact Councilmembers Brandon Todd (724.7774); Kenyan McDuffie (724-8107); Jack Evans (724-8058); Brianne Nadeau (724-8835); LaRuby May (724-8045); Anita Bonds (724-8198); and Vincent Orange (724-8174).

We will continue to monitor the TCPAA and will alert you to its status and how you can help strengthen and pass this much-needed legislation.

After you sign our petition, consider getting even more involved protecting trees by joining us at our Tree Advocates Meeting, Thursday, March 24 for an intimate dinner and talk about prescribing greener parks for D.C. Special guests including Department of Energy & Environment’s Dan Guilbeault, Dr. Robert Zarr, MD, and NoMa BID’s Stacie West.

Advance registration is required and space is limited.