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Dominion Energy to resume clearing, cutting alongW&OD Trail on June 16; NOVA Parks ‘concerned’

  • Writer: The Reston Letter Staff
    The Reston Letter Staff
  • Jun 13
  • 2 min read

by Gene Powell, Staff Writer


Photo by The Reston Letter
Photo by The Reston Letter

Dominion Energy has notified NOVA Parks that it intends to resume clearing and tree removal on June 16 along much of the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad Regional Park trail, even as park officials press for a coordinated approach to vegetation removal, power line safety, and restoration using native plants in affected areas.


A June 5 letter from Dominion’s Manager of Electric Transmission Forestry Amanda Keyes said the power company will resume work in its established trailside “easement” area. Dominion said the identified trees need to be cut down because they pose immediate threats to its power transmission lines, which if damaged could cause a major power blackout. It expects the cutting and trimming work to be completed in “approximately three to four weeks.”

Photo by The Reston Letter
Photo by The Reston Letter

The energy company said a high percentages of the trees, in addition to posing a safety hazard, had been identified as “undesirable vegetation” in a prior maintenance agreement with NOVA Parks, but in a June 6 response to the energy company, NOVA Parks executive director Paul Gilbert said, “We are concerned with the scope of the tree cutting proposal and the lack of a plan to restore the impacted areas.” He noted the area, “Is one of the most used and valued parks in Virginia, and this environmental resource needs to be protected and enhanced.” Keyes said in her letter that “we understand the cherished nature of the W&OD Trail,” but added that warmer weather can cause power lines to sag.


From November to March, Dominion clear-cut trees and other vegetation along a four-mile section of the park trail in the Dunn Loring-Vienna area, prompting objections from counties and municipalities along the trail route. Gilbert’s reply said that because of the move to “aggressively cut almost all the trees … that area is now being overrun with invasive plants that will be increasingly hard to manage in the years ahead because it was cut to the ground without a restoration plan.”


Gilbert warned Keyes that “without preventative measures, the new round of cuts will have similar impacts.”


The two sides have said they hope to arrive at a mutual, coordinated effort to protect the power lines and also restore and maintain the park’s natural condition, including suppression of invasive vegetation.


But in the exchange of letters, there is a conflict over their most-recent contact. Keyes’ letter says the decision to move ahead with clearing and cutting came after a June 3 “walk-through” on the trail with Park’s staff. But Gilbert said his team “did not request or support any tree removal… only that work be done to reduce and manage invasive species.”


The 45-mile W&OD park includes a paved trail between Shirlington and Purcellville, through the center of Reston. The narrow park follows the railbed of the former railroad, which ceased operation in 1968. Dominion transmission lines run for about 30 miles of the park’s length.


On April 25, NOVA Parks’ proposed a new “Vegetation Management Memorandum of Understanding” that recognized Dominion’s easement right to trim trees, bushes, and other growth, and which also had a detailed restore, replant, and maintain the program.

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