Tim Local live oaks, Preservation

Dear Governor Spanberger: On behalf of the membership of Friends of Live Oaks we respectfully request that you sign HB 549 re: providing additional authority for localities to establish tree canopy goals and enabling localities in Virginia to adopt tree preservation ordinances.

Governor Spanberger Letter Request Support for HB549 APR26.pdfDownload

April 1 , 2026
The Honorable Abigail D . Spanberger
Governor of Virginia
P.O. Box 1475
Richmond, VA 23218
Dear Governor Spanberger:


On behalf of the membership of Friends of Live Oaks, a community 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to
promote, protect, preserve and plant live oaks – Virginia Beach’s official City tree – and other globally rare maritime forest plant species, we respectfully request that you sign HB 549 re: providing additional authority for localities to establish tree canopy goals and enabling localities in Virginia to adopt tree preservation ordinances. This permissive bill enables localities to set reasonable standards for establishing tree canopy goals and to adopt local ordinances promoting tree preservation, while in no way inhibiting the growth of the Commonwealth’s residential and business communities.


Virginia has lost thousands of acres of forest and urban and suburban tree canopy over the last decade. These losses make it harder for the Commonwealth to achieve its nutrient reduction goals outlined in Virginia’s Watershed
Implementation Plan, the state’s blueprint to restore the Chesapeake Bay. While we cannot undo past deforestation,
this bill will help to restore the health of our invaluable forest resources and other resources that depend on forests.
We cannot overstate the myriad of benefits that trees provide to Virginia. Forests filter our drinking water supplies and
keep streams running clear; street trees reduce urban heat islands and heat-related ER visits in our cities. Existing trees
capture carbon, reduce energy use and protect property and infrastructure from rising sea levels.


Looking beyond the environmental and health benefits, trees also provide economic benefits to the Commonwealth.

Virginia continues to lose tree canopy at an astonishing rate, losing more than 50,000 acres of tree canopy in the last
seven years. This loss of tree canopy, particularly in urban and suburban localities, hinders Virginia’s efforts to manage
stormwater, flooding, and mitigate against the most harmful effects o f climate change. Of the amount of forest and urban trees lost each year, roughly 10% became impervious surfaces-increasing stormwater runoff and amplifying the
heat island effect. Trees also can boost local economies and property values by creating more attractive retail locations
and residential communities – and Virginia’s nursery industry will see increased tree and landscape supply sales with the
passage of HB549.


This bill has had widespread and bipartisan support in the General Assembly. Additionally, Fairfax County adopted its
ordinances under the statute provided i n HB1100 in 2009 – and their tree ordinances have neither hindered development nor reduced the availability of affordable housing.

The Commonwealth has an opportunity to become a national leader in achieving a smart balance between continued
growth and reforestation that can provide prosperity for all. For the benefit of all Virginia families and businesses, we urge you to sign HB 549 into law.


Respectfully,


HC Bernick III

Executive Director

An iconic live oak in a maritime forest at Pleasure House Point that fortunately, with a lot of work, was preserved.
Tim Local live oaks, Plant !, Preservation, Treat not destroy

I have edited the following from a similar message sent out by the Elizabeth River Project – a vital environmental organization in our region. Hope it will help you pause and consider why we are called Friends of Live Oaks at a little deeper level:

I love this time of year as the temperatures begin to dip and the leaves start to change. While I don’t exactly welcome the shorter daylight, I’m grateful that living in Hampton Roads lets us experience all four seasons.

Beyond the calendar, I’ve always measured the seasons by the change we witness and experience with our native Live Oak tree, Quercus virginiana, especially as the keystone species in our maritime forests.  These trees hold special beauty and symbolism for me. Their changes during the seasons are subtle and you may miss them if you’re not careful. 

In winter, their leaves stand vigilant against winter storms and the cold, often looking a very dark almost black green as they hunker down and use all the remaining energy to hang on. 

In spring, new buds appear and the trees produce both male and female flowers. The male flowers are easier to identify, as they ornamentally hang down from the trees in a cluster known as a catkin.  Female flowers can be found above the base of leaves and the ends of branches, typically reddish in color and sit upon small flower stalks known as peduncles.  When pollen from another oak’s catkin reaches one of these female flowers, fertilization can occur and lead to the production of an acorn.  Spring shows a new year of growth for these old giants has begun – and their younger relatives restlessly await their turn when they too will be joining them. 

In summer, they provide abundant shade on days of high temperatures and high humidity, sucking up gallons upon gallons of water from thunderstorms and downpours. 

As summer gives way to fall, these trees easily withstand hurricanes, tropical storms and northeasters as if to say to the weather “Is that all you can do?” as they barely sway in the winds.  Acorns fall to signal a new generation is on its way, and squirrels busily plant these new babies often forgetting where they placed these food stores as a new crop of seedlings will emerge in the coming spring. 

All along their yearly path they periodically will drop leaves and small branches, as if to say “we are constantly growing and changing – that’s why we are called live oaks.”  And live they are as they live around us – many of the iconic oldsters having been here and large trees even before the arrival of colonists from England.

Just like these trees, our maritime forests and their upland forest cousins also quietly and vitally continue their mission and gift to us, supporting life all around us. Their fallen leaves feed the soil that filters rainwater before it reaches the river, reminding me that the health of our forests and the health of our waterways – and thus our human communities as well – are inseparable.

Caring for our live oaks is, in its own way, caring for ourselves and the generations who will follow us.

~ Clay Bernick

“Caring for our live oaks is, in its own way, caring for ourselves and the generations who will follow us.”