Preview of your message (your information will be merged when sent):Dear D.C. Councilmember,
I am writing to you to urge you to vote no on the emergency legislation “Sursum Corda Cooperative Association Clarification Temporary Amendment Act of 2019”. This bill gives the Toll Brothers development company a special exception to remove eight healthy Heritage Trees (trees measuring 100” in circumference or greater) on this site.
While I am concerned with the specific removal of the Heritage Trees at Sursum Corda, more importantly, the legislation if passed, creates a precedent that may eventually eliminate the long-term protection of Heritage Trees D.C.-wide. The city’s urban forestry law states that Heritage Trees, unless declared hazardous, cannot be removed without Mayoral order. By introducing this piece of legislation, we will not only be subverting the checks already included in this law, but we will be sending the message that any developer can cut down any tree they want, no matter what the law says.
After 20 years of fighting to protect our urban forest, we should not be picking and choosing when we should value our environment. If trees are not valued at the Sursum Corda housing development where will they be valued? Trees are necessary for the health of all residents, not just a select few.
Towering Heritage Trees are a window in D.C.’s past when trees were far more plentiful than today, and a light to the future we are trying to achieve – to reach 40% tree canopy by 2032. They provide the most shade and stormwater control of any of the city’s trees, but they do more than that. They create a welcoming sense of place, unifying people and neighborhoods in a way no single apartment complex or main street can do.
At Casey Trees we understand the environmental, social and psychological benefits trees provide to our communities and our lives. That’s why we fought and Council passed the Urban Forest Preservation Act in 2002, and the amendments to it in 2016. These laws have been incredibly successful and set DC apart from similar cities across the country. Thousands of trees that would have been removed were saved, and over one hundred thousand have been planted to help restore DC’s historic canopy as a result.
In short, we are making progress. With daily reports surfacing locally, nationally and internationally about accelerating climate change, and in particular urban residents suffering locally – in real time – from these impacts, now is the time to hold on to our values – and our trees.