Category: Public Engagement

All –

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving and the Christmas Holiday Season are just around the corner! It’s getting easier to spot live oaks as fall foliage on other trees peaks and leaves start to fall and they stand out really well from other trees!

Attached is the agenda for our next meeting on November 21, 2022 at 4:30 PM (please send any suggested additions or changes to me).

This month we welcome newly elected City Council District 9 Member Joash Schulman who will be there to discuss live oaks, tree protection issues and related matters.

We will also be focusing on how we can complete our inventory of live oaks on City properties (attachment), building our partnerships with other organizations (attachment), and updating our live oaks fact sheet (attachment). We had two successful events this past month – Treetopia (Mount Trashmore) and the Lochhaven Garden Club Presentation (Norfolk). We also received word that our VA Department of Forestry proposal was approved for funding! Please come and help us with these matters if you can! 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/

Remember to send us photos including a description of location and why a live oak tree or group of trees is special to you so we can share on our website and Facebook page – you can forward these to me. 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/

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.

This month we will again meet in person at the Ocean Park Rescue Squad building located at 3769 E Stratford Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455. We also have the option to participate in the meeting by Zoom. The link to the November 21 Zoom meeting is in email.

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.