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The protection of woodlands in developing areas is a critical issue from an environmental quality and community character standpoint. Woodland areas perform important water management services by absorbing and filtering runoff before it can impact local waterways. They provide valuable climate control functions by cooling surfaces and water bodies, and processing pollutants in the air. They provide habitat for a variety of wildlife, and provide shade to critical creek areas habitats. And they enhance property values significantly when compared to open, non-wooded sites.

In spite of these benefits, it is a significant challenge to maintain wooded areas throughout the development process, and so most woodlands are lost to suburbanization. First, our typical spread out pattern of development breaks up blocks of woodland, leaving only a few scattered trees. Trees which were once part of a woodland community fare very poorly once exposed, and can be expected to die within a few years; so even when a developer of a standard subdivision attempts to protect trees, he or she often fails. Even standalone trees in the midst of development are subject to drainage pattern alteration, soil and root compaction, and damage during construction, yielding a very low long-term survival rate. And even when subdivisions are well designed to reserve blocks of wooded areas, little attention is given to evaluating the trees prior to design in order to prioritize areas of varying woodland and habitat value.

Some communities have enacted ordinances which attempt to address this problem. There are four stages of the development process at which tree protection provisions can be applied:

1) Preliminary design – identifying woodland areas on a site or in a community which are of high value for preservation

2) Specific design – identifying specific trees on the site which will be preserved and those which will be removed, and specifying methods for protection of those to remain

3) Construction protection – implementation of the specificationsfor protection of trees during the construction process

4) Post construction monitoring – ongoing evaluation of health of trees after construction, and implementation of recommendations for remedial care if necessary

Most ordinances only address the second stage. These ordinances often make no distinction between trees of good health and high quality, versus those of lower quality. Minimum size is used instead as a blanket requirement for identification of trees on the site. This can lead to extensive documentation of every tree, with no evaluation or professional judgment of relative importance of various stands of trees, leaving a reviewing board with little information on which to base decisions.

Identification and evaluation of valuable tree stands at the preliminary stage assists the community in setting priorities for later development decisionmaking. This evaluation is best done generally as part of a comprehensive plan. At the site plan level, it can be done by a general review by a qualified professional such as an arborist or forester, and summarized in a letter format. Size alone should not be used to determine the value of a tree for preservation.

Enforcement and monitoring are critical elements of a well-written tree protection code, and provide for protection at stages three and four. It is also important to note that many communities have tree protection ordinances which apply only to the protection of public trees in road rights of way. This is adequate for older areas, but more must be done in developing areas. Finally, woodland protection along riparian areas is often provided via riparian setback ordinances.

Communities with developing areas should protect woodlands via both the comprehensive plan and controls during and after the development process. In the comprehensive plan, areas of woodland of likely high value to the community should be identified for further attention at the site design level. A zoning code should be developed which avoids the requirement for every tree on a site to be identified, but which requires professional evaluation of blocks of woodland at the preliminary design stage. Then, the code should require a tree protection plan be prepared and approved prior to permit, and implemented and monitored during construction. Provisions for monitoring for at least a year after construction should also be included.

The Countryside Program Resource Manual contains a background sheet on Woodland Protection in development sites. For more information and model zoning codes contact Kirby Date at 216-295-0511 or k.date@csuohio.edu.