Good morning Chairman Allen and Councilmembers. My name is Andrew Schichtel, Chief Operating Officer at Casey Trees and a proud resident of Ward 8. Casey Trees has partnered with DDOT’s Urban Forestry Division over the past two decades. We commend Mr. Eutsler and his team for their dedication to preserving and expanding DC’s tree canopy to enhance the lives of all residents.

Trees are one of DC’s most important historical, cultural, and environmental assets. To ensure they remain healthy and abundant, we have three recommendations that could both help save the city money and better engage with its residents.

1. Protect more Special Trees by Reducing their size from 44” to 25” in Circumference

We commend DDOT’s Urban Forestry Division on their planting strategy that has filled the city’s 170,000 street tree boxes and public spaces, but despite this DC’s canopy has declined. Cities large and small across the US are finding out what we already know – we cannot plant our way to achieving DC’s 40% canopy goal – we must protect more existing healthy trees.

At 44” in circumference or greater, about 15% of DC’s 2 million trees are large enough to be designated “Special” and covered under the City’s tree protection laws. This is a good start, but continued canopy decline is telling us that current practice is inadequate. We therefore implore you to consider what we’ve been recommending now for years: redefine the size of a Special Tree from the current 44” circumference to 25” which will protect roughly 20% of the City’s trees. This change would provide protection to DC’s “GenX” trees if you will, which eventually will become the large canopy trees of tomorrow. Preserving older trees is important, but protecting younger ones must also be prioritized if we want to secure DC’s future canopy.

2. Adjust Fees/Fines for Tree Removal Permits and Illegal Tree Removals, for Inflation

In 2016, the fee for a Special Tree removal permit was $55 per circumference inch, and illegal removal fines were set at $300 per inch. Adjusted for inflation, fees would be $70 and fines $375. In short, they’re woefully out of date. In the past year alone, the city could have planted 1,500 more trees with the difference in adjusted fees and fines.

The Tree Preservation Enhancement Amendment Act of 2025, recently re-introduced by Council Chair Mendelson, contains both recommendations, and we ask this Committee to please move it to passage.

3. Allow Casey Trees to Pilot Test a Community-Based Street Tree Care Program

We receive hundreds of calls from residents every year about newly planted trees on their blocks. They are happy that a tree was planted, but concerned about its condition and ask how they can help keep it alive and healthy. Partnering with non-profits and residents to help lift some of the city’s maintenance burden is a win-win-win and commonly done in jurisdictions across the country.
Included with our testimony are a few examples of those programs for your review. Tree care events focused on street trees hold the added benefit of allowing Casey Trees to directly connect to adjacent residents, creating a dialogue that may allow us to plant trees on their yards through DC’s free tree planting program. This, in turn, helps the district achieve its 40% tree canopy goal.

For ten years now, Casey Trees has been asking DDOT to allow us to pilot a volunteer street tree maintenance program at no cost to the City. Our desire to test this program is not a negative reflection on DDOT but rather a simple acknowledgment that it is impossible to adequately care for the more than 65,000 newly planted street trees, the benefits of which extend beyond simple tree health. Trees are about people, and when you engage residents in tree planting and care, you build community goodwill – which is priceless.

In support of this request, I’ll refer to the pictures attached to our testimony, which are but a small example of the many challenges newly planted street trees are experiencing city-wide. Thousands of young street trees are clearly in need of basic maintenance such as the pruning of a limb that has been torn off, removal of stakes, installation of trunk guards to protect from mowers, the addition of mulch to help with their establishment, etc.

I’ll close by saying that DDOT’s Urban Forestry Division is recognized as a leader in tree management and protection, but more must be done if DC is to achieve its 40% canopy goal by the year 2032. Our recommendations today are provided in support of the District’s goal – to ensure a healthy canopy for generations to come.