People walking on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail east of Hunter Mill Road (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Dominion Energy is planning to take down more trees near its power lines along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail — this time, with the consent of NOVA Parks.

Starting next Monday (Oct. 20), the power company will begin “selective” pruning and removals of trees and other vegetation on a 2.6-mile section of the trail between its Clark substation in Vienna and the Hunter substation in Wolf Trap, just outside Reston.

The vegetation management work will include the removal of 36 trees that have been identified as dead, dying or diseased and at risk of falling on either electric transmission lines or trail users, according to Aisha Khan, Dominion Energy’s Northern Virginia media and community relations manager.

Crews will also prune trees and remove tall, “undesirable” brush and invasive plant species in a process expected to take three to four months to complete.

“This is part of the routine vegetation maintenance that we do along all 4,000 miles of our transmission lines in Virginia on a 3-to-4-year cycle,” Khan said when announcing the planned work. “Falling trees and tree limbs are the leading cause of power outages. Regular and selective maintenance is the most effective way to prevent outages and maintain a reliable power grid.”

Tree removals along the W&OD Trail have become a sensitive issue in Northern Virginia after Dominion cleared an unknown number of trees between the Clark and Idylwood substations in Vienna and Dunn Loring starting last fall.

Dominion, which conducted the clearings in conjunction with a project to install a new transmission line, argued that they were necessary to protect its power lines and meet current federal regulations, but NOVA Parks, which owns and manages the W&OD Trail, feared the loss of trees could significantly damage the park as a natural and recreational resource.

Washington & Old Dominion Trail between Dominion Energy’s Clark and Hunter substations (via Google Maps)

After Dominion suggested that it would take the same clear-cutting approach elsewhere along the 45-mile-long trail, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and other elected officials throughout the region urged the utility in March to halt all tree removals and work with NOVA Parks on a new plan for more controlled vegetation management going forward.

While negotiations for a new plan are still underway, Dominion says the upcoming trees to be removed were identified with help from NOVA Parks staff, who joined officials from the utility on a walk through the targeted area on Oct. 8.

Former NOVA Parks executive director Paul Gilbert, who has retired, and current Executive Director Justin Wilson, who took over the role on Oct. 6, both confirmed that the agency is supportive of the impending work.

“We are aware of what they have detailed at this point and we’re working closely with them to make sure we minimize any impact and then ultimately improve the situation,” Wilson told FFXnow by phone. “… We are in close coordination with them at this point.”

Gilbert says the proposed tree and brush removals seem “measured” in contrast to the “wholesale cutting” that cleared the Vienna and Dunn Loring sections of the trail, resulting in a proliferation of invasive plants this past spring and summer.

“Dominion needs to maintain the power lines while also respecting the park environment of the W&OD. This current plan seems to do both,” he said.

The utility’s offer to help remove invasive plants is also a step forward, NOVA Parks says.

Dominion’s approach to managing invasive species involves applying “selective low-volume herbicide” that targets “tall or fast-growing undesirable vegetation” that could affect electric facilities in its right of way, Dominion Electric Transmission Forestry Manager Amanda Keyes said in an Oct. 9 letter to Wilson.

An invasive tree species by a power pole and a tree identified as a hazard in Vienna, both along the W&OD Trail in Vienna (via Dominion Energy)

In addition to spraying invasive plants in the Clark-Hunter stretch of the trail, crews have been spraying plants between the Clark and Idylwood substations since late September. That work is on track to finish by the end of this week, depending on the weather, according to Khan.

Khan says the upcoming tree work will “be stop and go” over the next few months “since we are working next to the trail and prioritize trail user safety.”

Meanwhile, Keyes indicated in her letter to Wilson that Dominion was looking to meet with a NOVA Parks technical committee to finalize a plan for replanting the affected areas in Vienna and Dunn Loring, likely with some combination of pollinator meadows, low-growing, native trees and shrubs.

“As the weather is starting to cool, replanting should happen soon before we miss the window to do so,” she wrote.

According to Wilson, NOVA Parks and Dominion are “still having a very active discussion” about a new memorandum of understanding that will govern when vegetation along the W&OD Trail can be trimmed or removed and establish a long-term plan for repairing or replanting cleared areas.

“We take our obligations very seriously as stewards of this park, and I think we’re working with Dominion to balance their interests along with the interest of the so many Northern Virginia residents and visitors who use the trail,” Wilson said. “I think I’m optimistic that we’ll come to a resolution, but we’re still working through it.”