The cool days and colder nights let us know winter hasn't completely loosened its grip, but the longer days and glorious flowers make it clear that spring is here. What better time to get outside, enjoy the fresh air and spring ephemerals, and rescue some trees!
Spring Extravaganza - Final Days and Bonus Events!
Help Fairfax Tree Rescuer PRISM’s Spring Extravaganza finish strong! We have been welcoming the spring season by helping our local trees get the growing season off to a healthy and vine-free start. The event kicked off on March 21 through this Sunday, April 12, but bonus events have been added for Saturday, April 18. There are still a wide variety of events planned across the county for the home stretch, including our bonus day; for more information and to sign up, go to the Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM website.
Help us nab the Wisteria!
The dreaded Asian Wisteria will be blooming for the next couple of weeks. Please see the picture at the bottom of the newsletter to recognize it. Now is our chance to find every infestation in the county and make a plan to address it with the landowners. Please help us map it by either taking a photo and emailing it to
Not as obvious to people who don’t know plants, Incised Fumewort is also blooming and spreading rapidly. If you see it, please take a photo and post it on iNaturalist.
Great Falls Library Exhibit
For the month of April, Great Falls Library is displaying a Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM-designed exhibit about the common invasive plants threatening our trees, ways to combat these threats, and resources available to save the trees. The exhibit includes a wealth of information in both English and Spanish as well as information about Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM and how you can help. You can visit the library at 9830 Georgetown Pike, Great Falls. See pictures of our exhibit below.
New state laws to help with invasive plant control
Four bills passed the General Assembly and this week the governor signed them into law:
- SB 89/HB 388: Expands powers of service districts to include invasive plant control.
- HB 109: Closes the invasive plant commercial viability loophole.
- HB 88: Allows for the management of roadside invasive plants in VDOT rights of way.
- SB 163: Allows volunteers to assist with invasive plant control on State-owned lands.
This is all great progress!
Our progress
- 159 Community Representatives
Are you a member of a faith community, HOA, or commercial property with green space and concerned about invasives on your grounds? We are happy to conduct site visits to assess the grounds and offer solutions, contact us at
Know your invasives: Chinese and Japanese Wisteria
You've probably seen it growing on porches, where clusters of purple flowers add color and scent the air with its spicy fragrance. Such a picturesque sight. But have you also noticed it in our woodlands? It's not so picturesque when it's strangling trees along the roadways and in our forests. Chinese and Japanese wisteria were brought to the United States in the 19th century as an ornamental plant, however they have become invasive in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, where they are overwhelming forested areas. To learn more about Asian wisteria click here. And don't forget to help us get a head start on eradicating it this year, by letting us know where you are finding it.
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.
How your donations can help:
Outreach materials:
- $25 is enough to pay for 250 brochures or door hangers
- $40 is enough to send a yard sign to event leaders to put up during tree rescues to inform passersby what the volunteers are doing
Tools:
- $400 could pay for one tool kit consisting of a collection of saws and loppers
- $8800 would allow us to stage a tool kit in each of 22 locations around Fairfax County and Falls Church
Seed Money for Mini-Grants:
- $3300 is enough to pay for an incentive grant for a community association or faith community to jumpstart their invasives management program. Our first round of funding for 13 communities resulted in 1,241 trees rescued on 12.64 acres.
Administrative Capacity:
- $200 is enough to pay for our website for a year
- $200 per year would allow us to use a MeetUp account to recruit younger and more diverse volunteers
Fairfax Tree Rescuers PRISM displays at Great Falls Library
Asian Wisteria
