Front Royal/Warren County Tree Stewards break with Town

On Wednesday, the Front Royal/Warren County Tree Stewards issued a press release announcing a break in the 24-year relationship with the Town of Front Royal municipal government and documenting the string of events leading to that organizational decision. Following is that press release in its entirety:

Wednesday, April 14, 2021, Front Royal, VA – In a March 24 press release announcing its 2021 Tree City USA award, the Town of Front Royal quotes Dan Lambe, President of the Arbor Day Foundation: “Residents of Front Royal should be proud to live in a community that makes the planting and care of trees a priority.”  As their partnership with the Town of Front Royal disintegrates, Front Royal/Warren County Tree Stewards beg to disagree.

Over 24 years, the Front Royal/Warren County Tree Stewards forged an enduring partnership with the Town of Front Royal. Guided by the Town’s staff horticulturalist, Tree Stewards planted, pruned, and maintained the “urban canopy” – i.e., trees located on publicly owned parks, easements, and building grounds. Each year, the Tree Stewards donated 1400-1800 hours of free labor, supplementing a Public Works Department short on horticultural expertise and seasonal manpower. Even in the face of COVID disruption, Tree Stewards managed to contribute 900 volunteer hours to the Town in 2020. Today this partnership of nearly a quarter century lies in ruins.

The Town’s horticulturalist retired in December 2019, a position that has since remained vacant.  With that vacancy a critical link was severed in the partnership, weakening communication between the Town, the Tree Stewards, and a third partner, the Beautification of Front Royal Committee, a community service organization representing the county’s garden clubs.

Tree Stewards planting of a class tree along Front Street, with now removed trees in the background. Below, Tree Stewards pruning on Virginia Ave.

As stated by Tree Stewards President Melody Hotek, “Beginning in October 2020, channelization of Happy Creek and destruction of the volunteer-maintained riparian buffer along Front Street have communicated a lack of regard for our 24-year partnership. In violation of Town Code, the decision to eliminate a successful community-led model project was made without input from the Town’s Urban Forestry Advisory Commission (UFAC).  Ultimately, this oversight resulted in the mass resignation of the UFAC board in December.”

Tree Steward volunteers doing clearing work at Happy Creek in recent years. Below, according to Tree Steward officials the Town worked unilaterally against its own codes without consulting designated environmental entities and without a staff horticulturist in developing a stormwater management plan that flew in the face of established streamside maintenance theory, including the removal of 300 trees to be replaced by rocks.

Hoping to turn over a new leaf upon the arrival of newly appointed Town Manager Steven Hicks in December, Ms. Hotek and Lisa Schwartz, President of the Beautification of Front Royal Committee met with Mr. Hicks in January to bid him welcome and review their organizations’ history of community service to the Town. At that time, Mr. Hicks requested the Tree Stewards’ assistance with the Town’s renewal application for Tree City USA, traditionally completed by the now-defunct UFAC board.  (It is due to the Tree Stewards’ efforts that the Virginia Department of Forestry first awarded Front Royal its Tree City USA status in 2000.)

In January, despite documented destruction of more than 300 trees along Front Street, and numerous permit violations during the channelization process, Front Royal’s Tree City USA status was renewed.

Recreational creek access has been eliminated along much of the impacted area along Front Street where riprap rocks have replaced vegetation along this section of the Shenandoah Greenway Trail.

Ms. Hotek subsequently contacted Mr. Hicks about preparation for the Town’s Arbor Day event, annually planned and co-hosted by the Tree Stewards since 2000. Mr. Hicks then informed Ms. Hotek that the newly created Town-County Tourism Council had been tasked with the celebration and that he would contact her shortly to follow up.  There was no follow-up call.  Instead, an Arbor Day press release from the Town was issued on March 24, 2020 including event details determined without Tree Stewards participation.

In response to perceived disregard for their work, the Tree Steward membership has voted to forego its partnership with the Town for the coming year.  This includes maintenance of the Town’s Happy Creek Arboretum, managed by the Tree Stewards for twenty years.

Ms. Hotek summarizes, “Had the Town followed its own precedents and Code, as well as the requirements of its permits, this impasse could have been avoided.  In addition, town crews could have benefited from training and supervision by a qualified contractor or consultant, learning the specialized skills required for work in sensitive aquatic environments.

“The Tree Stewards sincerely grieve the loss of this relationship and remain hopeful that a more productive tone may be restored.  In the meantime, we encourage the Town to hire a horticulturalist, replant the buffer zone along Happy Creek, reinstate a knowledgeable Urban Forestry Advisory Commission tree board, and seek the services of qualified professionals before proceeding with future projects in order to prevent further environmental damage to the town, its natural and scenic resources, and its citizens.”

(From a release by the Front Royal/Warren County Tree Stewards)

Tree lives, as well as creek and riverside riparian buffer management theory, matter to some citizens, several dogs and one cat it appears, though it would seem not those in place in town government over last two years. Consequently, the FR-WC Tree Stewards have broken off its organizational relationship with the Town, as earlier the Town’s own Urban Forestry Advisory Commission resigned en masse after failing to be consulted as required by the town code creating it, regarding the Happy Creek defoliation/stormwater management plan.

An aerial graphic from a 2018 invasive species removal project overseen by the Tree Stewards – wonder what n aerial of that section looks like today?