Summer is upon us, even if the calendar disagrees. It’s perhaps the easiest time of year to recognize invasive vines while they are in full leaf, as well as the native vines that benefit the local trees, animals, and insects that are part of this wonderful web of life. Seeing firsthand how removing the non-native vines and allowing the native species to flourish together deepens our commitment to free the trees.
Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM strives to serve all of Fairfax County; we look forward to providing a warm welcome to anyone who would like to join us in our efforts. We endeavor to support all neighborhoods in marshaling the community to free our trees and ensure our green spaces are healthy and a benefit to all.
Grant opportunity for invasive plant control
Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM is offering mini-grants of up to $5000 to kickstart invasive plant control work in common areas of community associations (homeowners, condo or civic association), and faith communities. Communities in Fairfax County – including the independent jurisdictions and the City of Falls Church – who have not previously received a grant from Fairfax PRISM or Plant NOVA Natives to control invasive plants are eligible.
Applications will be accepted beginning on June 1 and reviewed in batches in June, August and September until all funds have been allotted. Check the Fairfax PRISM website for updated information on grant availability..
To start the process organizations must do the following:
Obtain permission to apply from the president of your organization’s Board
Complete a pre-application form to request a site visit from an experienced PRISM volunteer to help identify a project site and discuss priorities for treatment
Obtain an estimate of cost for work from a contractor
Complete a formal on-line application.
Click here for further details and access to application forms.
Organizing a tree rescue? Expand your reach.
We would love to help you get the word out. If you are organizing a tree rescue, we would be happy to include it on our website; contact us here.
Save the date!
Our Spring Extravaganza was so much fun, we're going to do it again over the four weekends of October. We'll have additional information about our Fall Extravaganza in this newsletter and on our website.
Our Progress
Over the last month, we've rescued 320 trees at over a dozen sites, trained 18 community site surveyors in how to survey sites in our communities and draft their findings into reports, and provided information to over thirty homeowners on how to remove invasive vines from trees on their property.
Know your native vines
While our emphasis at Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM is on removing non-native vines from our trees and landscapes, there are many native vines that evolved alongside our trees that do not harm the trees and provide benefits to the ecosystem. These should not be removed. It’s important to distinguish between the harmful, non-native vines and the beneficial native ones.
One such vine might come as a surprise. When you think of grapes in Virginia, you might imagine one of the many fine wineries in the state, but did you know that grapes grow wild throughout the National Capital Region, including Fairfax County? Grape vines provide both food and shelter for resident and migrating birds and their leaves provide food for caterpillars (which in turn can be food for birds and other animals). If you find wild grapes on trees, please don’t remove them in an effort to save the tree— they don't harm the tree, and together the tree and grapes are supporting the local ecosystem. Learn more about wild grapes here.
Know your invasives: Tree of Heaven
Tree‑of‑heaven (Ailanthus altissima) is a fast‑growing invasive tree that spreads aggressively across fields, forests, roadsides, and urban areas. Although it was once planted as an ornamental, it is now recognized as a serious ecological and agricultural threat. This species is known to pollute the soil with toxic compounds that seep out of the roots and fallen leaves, allowing it to outcompete native plants and form dense stands that are extremely difficult to remove.
Even worse, Tree‑of‑Heaven is a preferred host of the invasive Spotted Lanternfly, a destructive insect that threatens fruit crops, vineyards, hardwoods, and landscape trees throughout the Mid‑Atlantic. There is evidence that removing Tree-of-Heaven can reduce the Spotted Lanternfly threat, presumably because birds don’t like the taste of the bugs that have been eating this non-native plant.
Learn more about the Tree-of-heaven and what you can do to control it here.
A Field Report from Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM H.S. Senior Intern:
We were lucky to have Anabel Ness as an intern working with us for the last two weeks of May. Ms. Ness accomplished a lot in that time and shares her experience below. Thank you, Anabel!
My name is Anabel Ness, I am a senior at McLean High School!
I was able to work with Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM through my school’s internship program for seniors called the Highlander Internship Program (called that since our school’s mascot is a Highlander). It is a 10 day, 65 hour internship with the goal of letting students gain useful experience and learn about themselves by working with companies and organizations of their choice in the area.
What I did with this volunteer organization: I made social media posts to the PRISM Facebook page: I did residential and non-residential tree surveys looking for trees at serious risk from invasive vines and passed out door hangers with information on how to clip invasive vines off trees in the residential areas in McLean and Vienna; For the non-residential surveys, I looked at two parks and entered the information into the Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM website.
I also did an invasive plant removal/tree rescuing at Broyhill Crest Park.
It was very fun and informative! It was very cool to put into perspective what I had been learning about these invasive species.
I did a case study/small research project about how vines are affecting trees at a small park in my area. I found trees that were at no, low, medium, and high risk from invasive vines. I then did some research on how these vines affect the trees and the surrounding ecosystem at different levels of growth.
Lastly, I was asked to help gauge student interest in managing invasives and to figure out what would raise their interest in things like volunteering.
What I learned from this internship:
Overall, I gained a better understanding of how this organization works, how outreach works behind the scenes, how to do physical removal work, and how to better refine my skills of time management and communication.
I also learned how to identify many invasive vines. Learning about this made me realize just how many vines I see on a daily basis are actually invasive in the Northern Virginia area.
How I will use this experience/knowledge going forward:
This internship has been a great way for me to see what it’s like doing outreach for a specific issue in a community. It was amazing to see how a community effort against larger environmental issues works. It has been very inspiring!
I plan on majoring in biology when I go to college, focusing on how biology works in nature and wildlife. I want to bring these ideas and skills into my campus, hopefully sharing the issues to bring light to the issue, and getting support to fight these issues.
Support Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM
If you are unable to join us in the field, or even if you are able but want to make a positive impact in a different way, please consider donating to Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM. We are a grassroots, volunteer run organization with minimal operating expenses, but we can't succeed in our mission without tools, outreach, and the mini-grants that help our rescue trees throughout our neighborhoods.