$20K Gift To Help Tackle Invasive Tree Of Heaven At Blake Lane Park

OAKTON, VA — Few invasive species may be is deceptively named as the Tree of Heaven. It grows quickly, is tough to kill, and the spotted lanternfly — an annoyingly invasive insect species — love to eat it. Maybe it was the bugs that came up with the name.

On Friday, representatives from Dominion Energy presented the Fairfax County Park Authority with a $20,000 check to help remove the Tree of Heaven from Blake Lane Park in Oakton

"The park foundation was granted the $20,000 from Dominion Energy for reforesting Blake Lane Park," said Patricia Pearl Greenberg, an ecologist and invasive management area program manager with Fairfax County.

The foundation received funding from the county's urban forest management division to help with the Tree of Heaven removal effort at the park

"We need to reforest," Greenberg said. "We want to replace this invasive species with native trees to create a healthy wildlife habitat. With those $20,000, we're going to use some of the funds to help with prepping the site and then to purchase the trees and the supplies to protect those trees."

Last fall Jennifer Progress, Fairfax County's invasive management area site leader, led a team of volunteers to begin removing other invasive species from the park, such as bush honeysuckle.

"That's when it came to light that there was this many Tree of Heaven at this park.," Greenburg said. "When we realized there was funding coming for Tree of Heaven removal and efforts to control spotted lanternfly from urban forest management division, we said, 'Hey, this is a great opportunity to help support volunteers and help restore a park.'"

Tree of Heaven spreads quickly and removing it can be difficult, according to Greenberg. The trunk of the tree is easy to cut, but unless herbicide is applied to the stump, the remaining tree will send signals to the roots, which will begin sending out feelers underground.

"It's a constant flow of work to try to reduce the invasives and now we're dealing with the spotted lanternfly," Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said, on Friday morning. "The $20,000 from Dominion will really help win those efforts, especially here at Blake Lane Park. It's great to get sponsors who are able to help enhance that work and help enhance what the volunteers are able to do."

Fairfax County has information available online on how to identify and remove the Tree of Heaven. Residents can also find more information about how to report the spotted lanternfly. Reports can also be emailed to ReportSLF@fairfaxcounty.gov.