Bill of the Day: Restoring Tree Canopies
Updated on March 4th, 2025.
Culpeper Sunset. Image credit: Hugh Kenny
What’s Driving Tree Loss?
Virginia’s trees provide many economic, social, and ecological benefits:
- Trees stabilize temperatures in our cities by providing natural shade and creating a cooling effect, making it more comfortable for people to spend time outdoors.
- Trees clean the air we breathe of pollutants that contribute to climate change and respiratory illnesses.
- Trees help reduce stormwater impacts and localized flooding by holding soil in place, uptaking pollutants, and reducing erosion and sediment that pollute our waterways.
Trees provide shade that saves families and businesses by reducing building cooling costs by up to 30% As Virginia faces rising temperatures and more rainfall, trees will help mitigate the costs from extreme heat events, storms, increased flooding, and pollution.
Unfortunately, Virginia continues to lose trees at a rapid rate. Each year, roughly 10% of trees are replaced with impervious surfaces, like parking lots and roads, that limit the amount of water that enters the soil. Impervious surfaces transport excess runoff to storm sewers and streams, bringing harmful pollutants and increasing flood risk. Urban and suburban areas are now the fastest-growing source of pollution to our waters and will continue to harm water quality and public health. The loss of trees poses a significant threat to the well-being of all Virginians, especially those in our most vulnerable communities.
We need to find a way to protect or restore tree canopies lost to development. You can take a deeper dive into mitigating tree canopy loss in Our Common Agenda. To learn more, read our “Maximizing Tree Canopy” policy paper.
Tree Canopy Bills to Support in the General Assembly
Legislators have introduced several bills to support tree canopy preservation and protection efforts. VCN has taken a position on the following of these bills:
(Delegate Rodney Willett) Allows localities to establish a tree fund for developers to pay into if they cannot replace enough trees lost during development.
(Delegate Patrick Hope) Gives localities the authority to strengthen tree replacement requirements by establishing higher tree canopy replacement goals.
Take Action
HB 2630 passed in the Senate (Y-27, N-9). HB 2638 also passed in the Senate (Y-22, N-18). Both bills now await the Governor’s action.
Looking ahead, the Governor will amend/reject/veto bills by midnight on Monday, March 24th. Legislators will reconvene on Wednesday, April 2nd to vote on all of the governor’s amendments.
Join us on Thursday, April 3rd for a recap led by environmental experts to hear about our biggest victories, missed opportunities, and surprise outcomes during the General Assembly session!