I’m pleased to be a member of the Chesapeake Bay Urban Tree Canopy Expert Panel. The Panel’s charge is to recommend credits to be assigned to urban tree canopy as a best management practice for Clean Water Act compliance in the Chesapeake Bay region.
The panel met today to review the literature regarding the effects of urban trees on runoff reduction and stormwater treatment in the morning, and to hold an open public stakeholder session on our efforts in the afternoon.
There is still a lot of work to be done before any recommendations are made, but it was very informative to participate in the literature review, hear from the experts, and hear from the practice community and interested public.
You can follow the work of the Urban Tree Canopy Expert Panel here. The Panel’s recommendations, which are recommendations and will be considered by a number of other Bay Workgroups before implementation, should be issued by the end of 2015. Stay tuned.