Do You Live on a Street With Few Trees and Have Room for One in Your Yard? Then Let’s Talk
As anyone who has walked around the neighborhood will have noticed, we have several blocks in Park View that just don’t have street trees. Over the last few years, I’ve done a good job of identifying dead trees, reporting empty tree boxes, and have requested over 70 new street trees to tree up our neighborhood streets. Still, some blocks, like the 400 blocks of Manor or Newton, much of Warder Street, or the 700 block of Newton, just don’t have public street tree space available.
But this doesn’t mean that these tree-challenged blocks are hopeless. In walking around these blocks, I’ve noticed that often times there is enough private property available that could support a new tree IF the homeowner is interested. I’ve also learned that both funding and labor is available to assist a homeowner with planting that tree.
If you’ve ever considered planting a tree on your property and have room for one or more trees, now is a great time to act.
As of now, there is still space in Casey Trees’ schedule for site visits/meetings this fall and tree planting services this coming spring (2015) for trees through the RiverSmart Homes Shade Tree Program.
The RiverSmart Homes Shade Tree Program is designed to reduce stormwater runoff and erosion on residential property in D.C. Through this program, homeowners can have shade trees planted on their property by Casey Trees for $50 per tree (The $50 per tree co-pay covers the home consultation, tree and planting. Payment for each tree must be received prior to scheduling the tree planting date).
There is no limit to the number of trees that can be planted on each property, provided space allows.
The RiverSmart Homes Shade Tree program is funded by the District Department of the Environment (DDOE).
If you are interested in participating in this program for a tree this fall or next spring, check out the Casey Trees Web page that explains the process and provide the application form.
If you are interested in helping to bring trees to your block, but don’t have room for a tree yourself, contact me directly at 1A08@anc.dc.gov to let me know. I’ve very interested in partnering with neighbors this year to help bring more trees to our hot, tree-challenged blocks.
Explore posts in the same categories: Streets and Trees
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Park View, D.C. 
August 12, 2014 at 8:06 am
thank you for the work you have done!! It is appreciated.
August 12, 2014 at 9:32 am
I had a RiverSmart Homes audit conducted, and the audit said my yard was not recommended for a tree (even though a tree definitely would fit). Would the best course of action be to just plant my own and then apply for the Casey rebate, or is there a way to still participate in this program and have someone else plant the tree for me? I’m not sure I trust myself to select the right kind of tree and plant it properly since I seem to kill every house plant I’ve ever had.
August 12, 2014 at 2:51 pm
Great question. Let me ask Casey Trees about this.
August 19, 2014 at 7:23 am
Thanks, Kent!
August 13, 2014 at 9:33 am
Already had my audit a few months ago, and you should be seeing a new tree on the corner of Kenyon and Georgia (next to the new Gibson building) this fall! Love the blog Kent, keep up the great work.
August 13, 2014 at 1:26 pm
We live on Warder and have long lamented the lack of public space for shade trees. We had our home audited and Casey Trees recommended a number of different types of small trees that could fit in our front yard. Because they’ll only cover one small tree per household (I guess they prefer to invest in larger trees), we ended up with one new small tree in our front yard planted by Casey and a second that we planted in the front and got the Casey rebate for. Other groups working with RiverSmart Homes installed a rain garden and rain barrel in the back yard that funnel all of the rainwater coming off our roof back into the ground rather than the sewer. It was well worth the co-pay. This is a great public service!
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June 3, 2015 at 7:02 am
[…] been among them by advocating for a reconfiguration for Park Place, looking for ways to add more trees to treeless blocks, and asking DDOT for a long-term plan to address a number of challenges that can’t be […]