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TextLargest Swamp Chestnut Oak Trees in Fairfax County To Be Pruned After 150 Years
Fairfax County Office of Public
Affairs
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 551
Fairfax, VA 22035-0065
703-324-3187, TTY 703-324-2935, FAX 703-324-2010
May 21, 2004
Media Advisory
Media Photo Opportunity: Largest Swamp Chestnut Oak Trees in Fairfax
County To Be Pruned After 150 Years
After more than 150 years, two record-book size Swamp Chestnut Oak trees will be pruned for the first time on May 26 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Due to concerns about safety, private property and limited work space, the media is encouraged to contact Fairfax County's Urban Forestry Division at 703-324-1770, TTY 711, to arrange logistics for this photo opportunity.
Located next to Fairfax County's Huntley Meadows Park, the duo are the largest of their species in the county. One of the pair is designated a "Champion," a title awarded by the Fairfax County Tree Commission to the largest tree of a species. The champion measures 17 feet 6 inches in circumference and almost 100 feet high, while the "runner up" is only slightly smaller.
Bartlett Tree Experts and Growing Earth Professional Tree Care will perform the pruning. Both companies are donating a portion of their time to the effort.
Two nonprofit organizations initiated the project and secured funding through a public-private partnership. With guidance from the Fairfax County Urban Forestry Division, the Friends of Historic Huntley and Friends of Huntley Meadows won grants from the Virginia Department of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry Program. Private monies also were raised by the nonprofits.
In 1973, Fairfax County enacted a tree-preservation ordinance to protect trees at construction sites and new developments; the county was one of the first localities in the nation to pass such a law. As a result, trees still cover approximately 45 percent of the county, despite being home to more than 1 million residents.
For more information, contact Keith Cline or Michael Knapp, urban
foresters and International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborists
with Fairfax County's Urban Forestry Division, at 703-324-1770, TTY
711.
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