There’s good news and bad news about trees around the Chesapeake Bay.
The latest data released by the Chesapeake Bay Program shows 2024 was the massive partnership’s most successful year for planting trees in communities across the region.
“It is remarkable to see how federal, state and local investments in urban and community forestry have paid off in the Chesapeake Bay watershed with these record-breaking planting rates," Katherine Brownson, a liaison for the bay restoration with the U.S. Forest Service, said in a statement last week. “These trees will be critical to provide clean water, shade, air and recreational opportunities.”
But, overall, the watershed experienced a net loss of more than 28,000 acres of tree canopy between 2013 and 2022. That’s about twice the size of Manhattan and ranges from small street trees to intact forests.
Hampton Roads’ seven cities saw net losses in tree cover on developed or developing land, totaling more than 4,000 acres. About 40% were in Virginia Beach.
Thousands of creeks, streams and rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which spans more than 64,000 square miles, six states and the District of Columbia.
Experts say trees help improve the bay’s water quality by capturing and filtering pollution before it runs off land into waterways.
Protecting and expanding tree canopy is one of many goals outlined in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, which is being revised.
The most recent version signed in 2014 set a target of expanding tree numbers in urban areas by 2,400 acres by this year. The Bay Program will not meet that goal.
However, officials say the rate of tree plantings is promising. Since 2014, more than 17,000 acres of trees have been planted in urban, suburban and other residential areas, about 1,000 in Virginia.
Last year’s surge “reflects increased investments by state and local governments in urban forestry programs,” the Bay Program wrote in a news release.
Officials equate one acre of canopy to 300 newly planted trees.
Restoration efforts also use a strategy called streamside buffers — strips of trees, shrubs and other greenery lining streams or rivers. Those buffers saw a downturn last year.
Only about 227 miles of buffers were planted in 2024, a quarter of the annual target.
Nearly half were constructed in Pennsylvania, but Virginia contributed the second-most streamside buffers, totaling 43 miles.
