Residents in Washington DC tend to refer to the little patch of soil surrounding their street trees as “Tree Boxes”, but in the city’s official regulations regarding these street trees, the term used is “tree spaces”. DC has an interesting model for the care of their street trees. Unlike many other cities, where the care of street trees is a function of the Parks and Recreation Department, DC’s street and park trees are managed by the Department of Transportation, or DDOT (Dee-Dot) as the locals call them.

DDOT has recently updated their tree guard regulations January 27, 2017 for the better in our eyes. The new requirements ensure that all new fencing installed around the perimeter “allows the unrestricted flow of rainwater runoff from the sidewalk into the tree space” and the “height of the tree fence shall be approximately eighteen inches (18 in.) tall as measured from the sidewalk or curb elevation”. Why more restrictions? Improvements like this are designed to help the tree and pedestrians. The unrestricted flow of rainwater helps to nourish the tree while anything below an 18 inch fence can be a tripping hazard for those with eye sight difficulties and /or everyone in the snow.

This is not only good news for DC’s pedestrians and street trees, it is also good news for Curb Allure as our modular tree guards meet all of these new criteria. To view the complete Beautification of Tree Spaces Regulations click on the following link: http://www.dcregs.dc.gov/Gateway/RuleHome.aspx?RuleNumber=24-109. To access, scroll down, click again on the View Text icon and finally click on the download at the bottom of your screen.

Not only is Washington DC lucky enough to have DDOT oversee it’s street trees, but they also have Casey Trees. Casey Trees partners with DDOT to plant, care, educate and advocate for trees in DC. For more information, click here: http://www.caseytrees.org.

We always try to keep our information as up to date as possible – but if we have missed something, please let us know (contact us at info@curballure.com), as we are happy to update this page as needed. The better informed we all are, the better it is for the street trees and your community.