Join us Saturday September 24th 10-3 at Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Located at 1444 Diamond Springs Road VB.
Learn more from our friends at VIRGINIA BEACH MASTER GARDENERS website.
Friends of Live Oaks (FOLO) MTG on September 19th 2022 OPVRS & Zoom starts at 430pm
This month we will again meet in person at the Ocean Park Rescue Squad(OPVRS) building located at 3769 E Stratford Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.
Enter door opposite Shore Drive. We also have the option to participate in the meeting by Zoom. (Check email for details.)
Attached is the agenda for our next meeting on September 19, 2022 at 4:30 PM (please send any suggested additions or changes to me). This month we will be focusing on completing our inventory of live oaks on City properties (see attached list) and building our partnerships with other organizations (see attached list), and completing a City Council Candidate Survey on Positions re: Live Oaks and Tree Protection. Please come and help us with these matters if you can! FOLO is also making plans to work with a commercial business to plant live oaks and recreate a demonstration maritime forest landscape that might promote other businesses to do the same. FOLO is continuing to search for potential grant funding that if approved will support this business project and also allow us to hold a live oak tree giveaway this fall. If you haven’t joined officially as a member, please consider doing so by paying dues for 2022 – details on how to do so are at our website: https://friendsofliveoaks.org/join-us/
At our last meeting, we reminded members to send us photos including a description of location and why this live oak tree or group is special to you so we can share on our website and Facebook page – you can forward these to me. We are also looking for suggestions to add to our Live Oak Fact Sheet – a copy of the current fact sheet is attached. I am also re-sending some interesting website links for more info on live oaks and trees in general:
https://tingen.law/2018/brief-overview-virginia-tree-law/27389/
https://www.hunker.com/12542585/how-to-age-a-live-oak-tree
https://www.lgcfinc.org/live-oak-society.html
http://sptreefarm.com/interesting-facts-about-live-oak-trees.html
https://www.americanforests.org/champion-trees/champion-trees-registry/
Also attached please review a copy of a recent local magazine article that gives FOLO some good publicity and helps educate the public about the value of live oaks, AND a copy of a recent briefing and video presented by the City’s Landscape Management Administrator to the City’s Open Space advisory Committee concerning live oaks. (https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/maritimeforests/#:~:text=A%20maritime%20forest%20is%20a,protect%20the%20trees%20behind%20them.)
We hope you can join our meeting to add your input to the agenda and any other ideas you can share – such as how we can improve our website, and helping us build partnerships with other organizations. You can also learn more about pending tree legislation in the General Assembly, and read the recently completed State Study on tree protection at
https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2022/RD43 and also the tree legislation adopted by the General Assembly this session and signed into law by the Governor at
https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB537.
Our trees are mostly at risk
Live Oaks are not alone in lacking legal protection
By Mary Reid Barrow
Why doesn’t Virginia Beach have laws to protect the live oak, our official city tree?
This question comes up at the North End almost every time a live oak is cut down to make way for a new home or condo.
Part of the problem lies in the city’s stormwater regulations. Because of sea level rise, the regulations require that many low-lying properties be filled before starting new construction. No tree can survive if the land is built up around it. The regulations also require drainage improvements on lots that often adversely impact trees.
The other part of the problem lies with the Commonwealth of Virginia. State law says localities have no power to legislate tree protection ordinances on private property. The only exception now is the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act which protects trees generally within 100 feet of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline and its tributaries to protect against erosion and help water quality.
Legislation to grant localities the right to put other restrictions on trees on private property has been pending in the general assembly for two years. But if, and when, the legislation does pass, our city council then would have to pass its own ordinance governing what would be required in Virginia Beach.
If you want to help, stay informed about the legislation in the next session of the Assembly and let your senators and delegates know how you feel. Ask candidates where they stand on this issue, then follow through to make sure City council responds to the legislation if it is approved and enacts an ordinance that will keep our live oaks–and all trees safer.
This article was originally printed in the July 2022 issue of the North Virginia Beach Civic League News
Friends of Live Oaks (FOLO) MTG on July 18th 2022 OPVRS & Zoom starts at 430pm
This month we will again meet in person at the Ocean Park Rescue Squad(OPVRS) building located at 3769 E Stratford Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.
Enter door opposite Shore Drive. We also have the option to participate in the meeting by Zoom. (Check email for details.)
Attached is the agenda for our next meeting on July 18, 2022 at 4:30 PM.
This month we are scheduled to host a special briefing from Lisa Deaton with the VA Department of Forestry which has recently started a live oak nursery at their facility in Charles City County.
Please come if you can – a higher than normal attendance would be a great way to let VDOF know how serious we are about our live oaks in Virginia Beach. As noted last month, our focus this summer has been on completing an inventory of live oaks that are present on City owned properties to identify areas where they do not currently exist so that our City’s official tree can be planted there. FOLO is also making plans to work with a commercial business to plant live oaks and recreate a demonstration maritime forest landscape that might promote other businesses to do the same. FOLO is continuing to search for potential grant funding that if approved will support this business project and also allow us to hold a live oak tree giveaway this fall. If you haven’t joined officially as a member, please consider doing so by paying dues for 2022 – details on how to do so are at our website: https://friendsofliveoaks.org/join-us/
At our last meeting, we requested members to send us photos including a description of location and why this live oak tree or group is special to you so we can share on our website and Facebook page – you can forward these to me. We are also looking for suggestions to add to our Live Oak Fact Sheet – a copy of the current fact sheet is attached. I am also sending along some interesting website links for more info on live oaks and trees in general:
https://tingen.law/2018/brief-overview-virginia-tree-law/27389/
https://www.hunker.com/12542585/how-to-age-a-live-oak-tree
https://www.lgcfinc.org/live-oak-society.html
http://sptreefarm.com/interesting-facts-about-live-oak-trees.html
https://www.americanforests.org/champion-trees/champion-trees-registry/
We hope you can join our meeting to add your input to the agenda and any other ideas you can share – such as how we can improve our website, and helping us build partnerships with other organizations. You can also learn more about pending tree legislation in the General Assembly this year, and read the recently completed State Study on tree protection at
https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2022/RD43 and also the tree legislation adopted by the General Assembly this session and signed into law by the Governor at
https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB537.
Friends of Live Oaks (FOLO) MTG on June 20th 2022 OPVRS & Zoom starts at 430pm
This month we will again meet in person at the Ocean Park Rescue Squad(OPVRS) building located at 3769 E Stratford Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.
Enter door opposite Shore Drive. We also have the option to participate in the meeting by Zoom. (Check email for details.)
Attached is the agenda for our next meeting on June 20, 2022 at 4:30 PM. As noted last month, our focus this summer will be on completing an inventory of live oaks that are present on City owned properties to identify areas where they do not currently exist so that our City’s official tree can be planted there. FOLO is also making plans to work with a commercial business to plant live oaks and recreate a demonstration maritime forest landscape that might promote other businesses to do the same. FOLO is continuing to search for potential grant funding that if approved will support this business project and also allow us to hold a live oak tree giveaway this fall.
We hope you can join our meeting to add your input to the agenda and any other ideas you can share – such as how we can improve our website, and helping us build partnerships with other organizations. You can also learn more about pending tree legislation in the General Assembly this year, and read the recently completed State Study on tree protection at
https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2022/RD43 and also the tree legislation adopted by the General Assembly this session and signed into law by the Governor at
https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+sum+SB537.
Friends of Live Oaks 
You must be logged in to post a comment.