"Green Laws, Trees and Blue Waters,
an argument for harmonized tree laws.”

Prof. Buck Abbey, ASLA, CELA
© all rights reserved
Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge , Louisiana

"Abstract"

Architects, engineers and interior designers have designed with life safety codes for many years. The codes set forth design standards, commonly accepted construction practices and agency requirements that must be met for all construction. Building codes are closely related to community zoning laws and are often found within the same set of municipal laws.. Designers are required to see that construction plans are in compliance with standard building codes and contractors must build accordingly.

Landscape Architects have had no life safety or design codes to follow until recent years. Standard building codes, where most life safety issues are found, do not pertain to site development, land clearing, tree preservation, water conservation, site storm water management or landscaping construction. Only recently have landscape codes come into existence in communities across the nation as a method of making up for this oversight in the standard building code. Landscape codes regulate site development though the police power of zoning and trees are becoming an important aspect of zoning and land use.

As a result, landscape architects are changing the way they approach design and conduct their practice. Arborists, urban foresters, horticulturist, are being called upon more often to assist landscape architects with tree preservation, tree protection, tree rejuvenation and tree planting matters and to see that landscape codes are satisfied. More and more communities are requiring that landscape plans, clearing plans, drainage plans and tree preservation plans be drawn to code and meet various technical requirements that are being enacted by city councils, planning commissions, tree commissions and design review boards.

Tree preservation, protection and planting must be ‘harmonized,’ or more closely linked to encourage cooperation rather than to promote separate interests as we see today in many of the green laws that regulate trees in this country.

List of Exhibits

Exhibit A- Municipal Tree Manual, Standard Municipal Tree Ordinance Outline

Exhibit B-California Model Ordinance Guidelines, Outline

Exhibit C-Charlotte, North Carolina, Chapter 21 Trees, Ordinance Outline

Exhibit D-Gwinnett County, Georgia Tree Ordinance Outline

Exhibit E-Palo Alto, California, Chapter 18.10 Tree Preservation/Management Ordinance

Exhibit F-Collier County, Florida, Sec. 4.06 Landscaping/Vegetation Ordinance Outline

Exhibit G-Lexington, South Carolina, Landscaping and Tree Ordinance Outline

Exhibit H-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Design Standards Outline

Exhibit I-Draft LSU Model Tree & Landscape Ordinance Outline

Exhibit J-LSU Tree Ordinance Index

Appendix A-LSU Standard Tree Ordinance Vocabulary

Appendix B-Green Laws And Community Design

Background Reading On Green Laws

Notes

Biography

“Green Laws”

An emerging way to ensure that nature in the city is cared for is to enact a comprehensive landscape code which specifies minimum standards for caring for nature in the city, especially site development, land clearing, habitat preservation,

tree protection, irrigation, water conservation and on-site storm water management. In recent years, city after city across the nation have turned to this type of local legislation as a means of ensuring better site design acceptable community design, tree preservation and better landscape construction within the city. The better codes are all contained within a community’s zoning ordinance.

Landscape codes typically provide for the construction of such site facilities as parking lots, site service area, pavements, urban walls, landscape buffers, irrigation systems, visual screens, compliance with ADA standards and design of yard plantings that serve a variety of uses^{. 1.} In most communities, the reason for the ordinance is the protection of the public by putting regulation on lot compatibility, damages to natural systems, water usage, and those that provide landscape design, maintenance, arboriculture or landscape construction services. Communities are also creating standards to protect tree canopy, provide for shade, prevent storm water run off, abate erosion, and cool hot urban environments.

Tree ordinances are often stand alone laws that are part of the municipal code but not part of the zoning ordinance. More often than not, they apply only to trees on public land. Tree management ordinances advocated by such organizations as the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) set standards for the care of trees in American cities and towns. Many tree laws regulate the practice of arboriculture and set up municipal urban forestry programs, establish ‘tree’ boards and institute licensing for arborist. ^2. Tree ordinances are usually one of three main types, they are tree preservation ordinances, street tree ordinances or development ordinances. The later are generally known as landscape ordinances because they effect total site landscaping as well as trees, clearing, grading and construction.

From a recent study of fifty community tree ordinances, including those contained within the USDA Forest Service Tree Ordinance Index, ^3. it is clear that most contemporary tree ordinances have been written to protect and preserve trees rather than to support the needs of zoning, land use, development and design. Exhibits A-H illustrates the most common regulations found in municipal tree ordinances. All of these examples deal with tree care. Some of the more contemporary ordinances in these exhibits regulate tree preservation and planting as well. The contemporary history of tree ordinances revealed from this study of forty-nine (49) ordinances, Exhibit J, shows a trend in the way the ordinances are being written or ‘designed.’ The earliest ordinance, the Municipal Tree Manual-Standard Municipal Ordinance, Exhibit A, dates to the 1950’s and clearly shows that the first ordinances were written to support the development of the arborist industry. This MTM ordinance and those that followed in the 60’s and 70’s did this by establishing municipal forestry programs, developing shade tree commissions and hiring municipal arborists. Exhibit B, the California Model, one of the most contemporary of the featured ordinances, although broader in some respects, still puts forward the basic format of the 1950’s ordinance design. Some of the contemporary ordinances such as Charlotte (Exhibit B), Palo Alto (Exhibit C) and Gwinnett Country (Exhibit D) are moving away from this trend and provide regulation for tree preservation and replanting.

It is common for tree ordinances to not address zoning, development or design. All are measures, strongly related to the development and management of the urban forest. The better of the contemporary ordinances such as Collier County (Exhibit F) and Lexington (Exhibit G) are becoming more integrated with post construction landscape codes that have become part of municipal zoning regulation since tree ordinances came into popular use in the 1960’s.

While many communities enact ordinances merely for beauty or economic development, there are other important reasons for these codes are written. In recent years Davis, California enacted a landscape ordinance for solar control, particularly in regards to parking lots. Near by Irvine, California, enacted an ordinance to promote sustainability which is a form or recycling natural resources and energy. Santa Monica, in Los Angeles country, is known as the ‘sustainable city’ and recovers all rain that falls that on the city to recaptures pollutants before they find their way into Santa Monica bay.

Many communities in Florida, such as Lake Mary and St. Lucie County, base their ordinances on the need to conserve and reuse irrigation water. Collier County on the west coast and Volusia County on the east coast both require on-site storm water management and have standards that call for storm water facilities. Some of the new Georgia codes are directed toward sustaining tree canopy and preventing soil erosion. These codes call for a certain density of trees on all development sites. Texas codes are being written to include more shade within vehicular use areas. Austin recently drafted new language that will make parking lots cooler. Louisiana is exploring on-site storm water management and green parking lot design. Too much water is a problem in Louisiana so the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is working on a model landscape code that will help clean the state’s coastal waters. Maryland and Virginia have recognized the same problem for over a decade so many of their local codes call for forest preservation. In the Carolinas tree codes are being written to provide for stated numbers of trees per acre. These codes are concerned with canopy standards, shade requirements and tree preservation.

“Tree Ordinance by Design”

Tree ordinances and landscape codes, both working to preserve, protect and replant nature in the city need to be combined rather than competitive or overlapping. The Chapel Hill Ordinance, (Exhibit H) is an example of how tree ordinances need to be designed to be ‘harmonized’ in its approach. Chapel Hill’s ordinance is based upon integrating the tree and landscape code into the zoning ordinance in the form of site design standards. These standards including regulations for critical areas, habitat preservation (especially of ‘significant stands’), tree care, tree protection, landscaping, screening, buffering, parking lot design, open space, integrated management practices, lighting, storm water management and erosion/sedimentation control. They are all integrated in to the zoning code.

Contemporary tree ordinances need to be “harmonized” or woven together to be part of the same body of municipal law. An examination of contemporary vocabulary associated with tree laws gives evidence of the need for integration. Appendix A. All green laws need to be contained with zoning laws and must emanate from land use and not be just part of a community’s general body of law that dictates land use from outside the zoning code. In other words, green laws need to enhance zoning, not just put limits on land development.

One community in Texas for instance contacted the University recently to say they needed help in drafting a tree law. When asked if they had a zoning ordinance to place the law within context, they demurred. This little community does not have zoning so their tree law would not have the backing authority of zoning, and hence could not be properly enforced. This tree law will dictate rather than enhance zoning and land development.. A further observation is worthy of note. The majority of municipal tree law pertains to trees on public land or simply street trees and do not even approach the zoning code! Do you see the point?

The second message is tree laws need to be more concerned with root space rather than canopy area. Many newer tree laws focused on tree density are based upon canopy or shadow pattern and not available planting area. The Fulton Country, Georgia ordinance is a case in point. The purpose of this ordinance is to cultivate and encourage a high level of tree preservation through administrative guidelines rather than implement regulations within the zoning ordinance. The code is designed to provide standards for the preservation of trees as part of the land development, building construction and timber harvest processes. It is not the intent of this ordinance to regulate individual properties that must follow the rules of zoning. The requirements kick in only when activities require a land disturbance permit, a building permit or timber harvest permit. Zoning has nothing to do with this ordinance. When benefits are cited to the citizens of Fulton County physical improvement are mentioned such as control of soil erosion, moderation of storm water runoff, improved water quality, interception of airborne particulate matter and the reduction of air pollutants. Enhanced wildlife habitat is also mentioned as are the reduction of noise and glare, climate moderation, aesthetics, scenic quality and increased property value. No mention is made of zoning or how the tree preservation ordinance increases the community’s ability to zone effectively for land use, bulk, height, set back, screening and buffering. ^4.

A third theme is the arborist meditation on the single lone specimen tree standing there in the parking lot in all of its naked glory, with its significant straight bole, prominent central leaders and delicate branching and waifing irascible leaves, all basking in the warmth of full sunlight and bearing a perfect east-west orientation. Trees in nature do not grow like this. Writers and designers of tree laws should be more concerned with conserving habitat and a mixture of vegetation and its dependent wildlife rather than just preserving specimen trees to be pruned and maintained on a regular basis by those in the aboricultural industry. Nature in the city needs to be in its natural configuration as much as practical so habitat preservation should be the prime goal of most tree laws, specimen tree preservation a secondary goal.

Fourthly, the USDA Forest Service recently released a study concerning the size of trees within the urban forest. This large tree argument indicates that large-stature trees are better small trees because the benefits of trees are multiplied as the tree grows bigger. When it comes to trees, size, they claim, really does matter. The authors of this philosophy argue that increased benefits in regard to trees result in reduction in storm water run off; improvement in local air, soil and water quality; reductions in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Further they point out big trees provide more wildlife habitat; increase property values and enhance the attractiveness of a community. ^5. They make a strong case for big trees with their position that large trees are what urban forests need but this is a faulty argument in light of zoning practices.

Large trees only is mono-culturist’s thinking, not indifferent from the way Indiana corn farmers think about their rural landscape. In the city, a variety of planting spaces exist and various growing conditions result from land development activities largely as a result of zoning.. It is better to use trees and other landscape materials of different sizes, textures and character and then layer them into tree groves within available planting spaces. From a wildlife habitat point of view this is certainly more beneficial Again, the argument for large trees or small trees fails to think about zoning and land development issues but concentrates on saving the perfect tree.

Finally, even contemporary tree laws and recommendations for their drafting fail to recognize the importance of harmonized codes and codes based upon zoning, site development and design.^6. Single issue landscape codes that deal only with trees fail to see new trends that are developing in community design, These new trends, on-site storm water management, green parking, low impact development, smart growth and new urbanism may completely undo the way we presently think about writing tree ordinances. They will offer new possibilities for writing creative harmonized tree ordinances.

The best way to insure that trees are seen as green infrastructure is to make sure that tree laws recognize design and are contained within, (harmonized) with landscape codes and landscape regulations both of which are codified within community zoning laws. This will not be an easy task but the trend has started. Communities such as Baton Rouge, LA; Collier County, FL; Columbia, S.C; Fairfax County, VA; Greensboro, N.C.; Gwinnette County, GA; Howard County, MD; Lexington, S.C.; Orlando, FL; and Marco Island, Florida have enacted some comprehensive green laws that see trees as an important element of zoning that have implications for environment, conservation, storm water management, open space and civic design. This is a positive trend for the future for tree laws.

How to harmonize community codes? The answer is complex but we know for sure that it will be the role of the landscape administrator and staff to make it happen.

Code Administration

As more and more cities enact integrated landscape codes, storm water management ordinances and tree preservation laws code administrators will need to improve their knowledge of plant materials, urban planting technology, irrigation, storm water and design issues. Perhaps, even more important, code administrators, many of who across the nation are untrained will need to go through vigorous on the job training to learn how to interpret landscape construction plans, design details and written specifications. They will need to understand how to write, review and make needed improvements to the landscape code they will be called upon to draft or administrator.

The job of a landscape code administrator is very complex. This is largely due to the many things a code administrator must know and the various duties that are assigned to a person in this position. Figure 1.0 lists some of the major duties assigned to people in code administration. They must possess some understanding of landscape architecture, horticulture, urban arboriculture and basic site engineering. They are responsible for plan review, site inspection, issuing permits and working with developers, builders, arborists and designers to see that all understand the code and are in compliance.

One of the most important abilities of a landscape administrator is the ability to review professionally prepared landscape plans and code compliance tabulation charts which often are included on the drawings. The landscape administrator must have the ability to do the calculations and math to determine if all quantities of plants and materials which are required by the landscape law have been met.

Advise community leaders and general public

Organize local tree/landscape advisory commission

Write and amend local landscape & tree laws, write standard specifications

Provide assistance to other units of local government

Work with private developers, architects, engineers, landscape architects

Review preliminary landscape plans

Review and approve final landscape plans and specifications

Write reports and issue permits

Conduct field inspections

Manage Community Street Tree and Open Space Plans

Complete continuing education or on the job training on technical topics

Manage staff.

_________________________________________________________________Figure 1.0. Landscape Code Administrator Duties

It might be argued that code administration will be one of the greatest employment growth areas for arborists, landscape architects, urban foresters and horticulturists in the coming years as more and more cities write landscape codes to manage the green infrastructure of the city. If that is so, then more educational materials such as the accompanying compact disk, “Green Laws And Community Design,” Appendix B, will be needed. Prepared by the Landscape Ordinance Research Project at Louisiana State University the disk can be modified for local use.. Educational material such as this that teach zoning issues will need to be prepared as training programs for young landscape administrators and site inspectors.

Code Knowledge

Harmonized codes will become more complex, which to some extent makes increased demands on landscape administrator’s technical knowledge and need for continuing education. Codes are becoming more site specific so designers, administrators and builders must understand the "geography of a development site" and how all parts of development property relate and how they are properly and safely built. They must understand the design components of landscape law and the technical standards by which they are built. They must know some science. They need to understand arboricultural and horticulture specifications and know about trees and how they grow in urban environments. Up-to-date knowledge of tree root systems, transplanting, pruning methods, fertilization strategies, shadow pattern calculations and pest control methodologies will be absolutely essential to the landscape administrator.

In the near future, landscape administrators will need to know more about on site storm water management and how developers must comply with Phase II NPDES rules, erosion control BMP’s, green parking lot design science and a host of topics concerning urban horticulture, irrigation water distribution and reuse and on site storm water management techniques.

Evolving landscape codes are causing the work of code administrators, to change, and change rapidly. As nature’s agent, if landscape administrators are to protect nature in the city, they must undertake continuous training to keep up with changes in zoning law, landscape codes, tree management science and urban design.

Tree laws have come a long way since the first one was inked as the Pennsylvania Shade Tree law in the eighteenth century. Even modern tree laws, following the model MTM-Standard Municipal Ordinance (Exhibit A) published in the 1950’s are moving more toward design and habitat preservation than simply tree care.^7. The future looks promising for our ability to manage the urban forest canopy of our cities.

For better community design, arborists, landscape architects and community planners must work together to keep nature in the city. Harmonized landscape codes, within the context of zoning will provide society green laws, trees and blue water and together they will make our communities livable places.

Appendix A-Standard Tree Ordinance Vocabulary

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Buffering. The use of landscaping along with berms, walls or decorative fences that at least partially and periodically obstruct the view from the street............Austin, Texas.

Critial Root Zone,CRZ, The area of tree roots within the crown dripline, this is generally defined as a circle with a radius extending from the tree trunk to a point no less than the farthest crown dripline………...Columbia, South Carolina.

Design Components. Sections of a landscape ordinance making reference to specific parts of a development property which must be designed.......Louisiana State University

Design Manual: A companion document prepared to summarize the technical language of a landscape ordinance. .........Louisiana State University.

Density Factor For The Site, DFS, A unit of measure to prescribe and calculate required tree coverage on a site based upon tree size…..Columbia, South Carolina

Impervious Surface Percentage. is an intensity measurement of the impervious surfaces of a building site.......West Lafayette, Indiana.

Land Altering Activity. Any change to existing land which would physically alter the existing conditions and vegetative cover on the land.......Shreveport, Louisiana.

Net Lot Area. the area within lot boundaries of all lands comprising the building site..........Dade County, Florida.

Opacity. an imaginary vertical plane extending from the established grade to a required height of which a required percent of the vertical plane shall be visually screened from adjacent property use........Dublin, Ohio.

Perimeter Landscape Strip. Is a landscaped area which separates the vehicular use area from adjoining property and/or public right-of-way..........Little Rock, Arkansas.

Plantable Area: The pervious surface area expressed in square footage available for the preservation or planting of vegetation.................Alpharetta, Georgia.

Post Construction Certification Statement: A statement filed by the landscape architect certifying that all landscape construction has been implemented according to the requirements of the landscape ordinance. ............ Louisiana State University

Protected Tree. All mangrove trees and cypress trees, regardless of diameter, shall be defined as protected trees………………………………………...Tampa, Florida

Significant Tree. Significant tree shall be any tree that is at least six (6) inches in

D.B.H…………………………………………………….Lynnwood, Washington

Street Wall. Any building wall fronting on a street.......Corpus Christi, Texas.

Street Yard. The street yard is the area of a lot which lies between the street right-of-way line and the actual front wall line of the building...….....Austin, Texas.

Technical Standards. These are specifications, requirements, quality determinations or performance guidelines for judging acceptable compliance with the provisions of a landscape ordinance. ..………....Louisiana State University

Tree Bank. A tree bank fund is established by the City to provide an

opportunity to make a cash payment to the City in lieu of providing required

landscape material. …………………………………..Altamonte Springs, Florida.

Tree-Class A. Any self supporting woody plant of species which normally grows to an overall height of at least fifty (50) feet.………………......Covington, Louisiana.

Tree Density Standard (TDS) : The minimum number of Tree Density Units per acre which must be achieved on a property after development.....Gwinnett County, Georgia.

Tree Protection Area (TPA) : Any portion of a site wherein are located existing trees which are proposed to be preserved ………….....Gwinnett County, Georgia.

Vehicular Use Areas. All areas subject to vehicular traffic.....San Diego, California.

Visual Screen. A physical obstruction used to separate two areas or uses which is at least 75 percent opaque.…………………………....North Lauderdale, Florida.

Water Harvesting: Any combination of techniques that results in storm

or flood waters captured on site, for later plant use or return to the water table.........……………………………….................... Sparks, Nevada.

Waterfront Yard. Property abutting open water, bays, bayous, wetlands, lakes, canals, aquatic conservation or preservation areas........Tampa, Florida.

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Appendix B-Green Laws And Community Design

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The referenced compact disk has been prepared as both a study guide and a speaker’s tool that can be used by landscape code administrators to speak to groups about the need to protect nature in the city. They may use the disk to study problems of community design which can be solved by the use of harmonized landscape codes. In the section “How We Build,” common problems that green laws and good landscape design can solve are showcased. You will find out about the problems caused by excess paving, lack of shading, improper screening, degradation of natural habitats and wide spread urban tree removal.

The section “How Communities Build Better,” sets forth the methodology by which communities build and develop. You will learn about the role of government in community development as well as what architects, engineers and landscape architects do. The role of the zoning ordinance, landscape code, and building code are mentioned. You are introduced to the vocabulary of design components. These are the parts of a development site which make up the “geography” of urban lots and building sites which must be designed to organize competing land uses and make the property function as intended.

Section three of the disk “ The Geography of a Development Site,” explains the art or science of site planning and land development. A case study of a small urban commercial site is presented to convey the most common parts of a development site that fall under the purview of landscape codes. You will learn about street tree planting areas, street yards, street walls, parking lot screens, buffers, vehicular use areas, VUA interiors and habitat preservation zones. You will learn what they are and by what technical standards they are judged.

In addition, you will be briefly introduced to some leading edge concepts which are not fully integrated into very many landscape codes at this time but hold out promise for future inclusion. These items include Xeriscape design principles, low impact development strategies, tree shadowing patterns, tree density units, micro-retention techniques and the science of green parking lot design.

And finally, the final section of the disk, “The Visual Effects,” takes a look at the visual effects of landscape law from site clearing to vehicular use area interiors. You will be taken on a tour of the American Southeast where you will see examples from Naples, Florida to Durham North, Carolina to Mandeville, Louisiana and on to Dallas, Texas.

These slides will inspire you to see the green visual effects that landscape laws bring to community design.

By the end of the show you will realize that this disk is about nature in the city. In today’s presentation will be introduced to the importance of green laws what landscape architects, landscape administrators, urban foresters, arborists, horticulturalists and landscape contractors can do to protect, preserve and promote the green infrastructure which makes communal living so nice. Time limitations certainly prohibit a thorough discussion of the training disk but for those that want more detail, there are two ways to get the information. Copies of the disk and speakers manual are free of charge and available until supplies are exhausted. Contacting Bonnie Stine at the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry, P.O. Box 1628, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70821, 225.925.4500.

For those seeking additional information in an easy to accomplish format they are directed to sign up for a CEU course provided on the subject of green laws and hosted by The Ohio State University, Regional Planning Department, the Planning Education at a Distance web site program. Contact The Ohio State University at http://knowlton.osu.edu/ped/

BACKGROUND READING ON GREEN LAWS

Abbey, D.G. Buck, "Green Laws, Building Landscapes In The Twenty-first century". Proceedings 1999 ASLA Annual Meeting, American Society of Landscape Architects, Washington D. C.. 1999.

Abbey, D.G. Buck, "Green Laws In Three Communities". Proceedings 2003 National Urban Forest Conference, American Forest, Washington D. C.. 2003.

Abbey, D.G. Buck, "U.S. Landscape Ordinances". John Wiley & Son, Inc., New York, NY. 1998.

Abbey, D.G. Buck, "Guide To Writing A Landscape Ordinance". Louisiana Association of Nurserymen, Baton Rouge, LA. 1988.

Abbey, D.G. Buck, "Guide To Writing A City Tree Ordinance". Louisiana Association of Nurserymen, Baton Rouge, LA. 1993.

Bernhardt, E.A. and Swiecki, T.J., Guidelines for Developing and Evaluating Tree Ordinances, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Urban Forestry Program, Sacramento, CA. 1991.

Bowen, C., Landscape Ordinances: To Define and Protect, Zoning Practice, American Planning Association, April 2004.

Fazio, James., How To Write A Municipal Tree Ordinance, Bulletin No. 9. National Arbor Day Foundation, Nebraska City, Nebraska. 1991.

Garber, Melvin., Components of a Tree and Landscape Ordinance, University of Georgia, November, 2000.

Duerksen, Christopher. J., Richman, Suzanne, Tree Conservation Ordinances, PAS Report Number 446, American Planning Association, Chicago, Il. 1993.

Duerksen, Christopher. Tree And Vegetation Conservation Ordinance Annotated Outline, Citizens For A Scenic Florida,Jacksonville, FL. 2002.

Moll, Gary, Ebenreck, Sara., Shading Our Cities, Island Press, Washington D.C., 1989.

Robinette, Gary, O. "Local Landscape Ordinances." Agora Communications, Plano, Texas, 1992.

Wolfe, K.L., Trees, Parking and Green Law: Strategies For Sustainability, College of Forest Resources,

University of Washington, Seattle, WA. 2004

__________________., International Zoning Code, International Code Council Inc., Country Club Hills, IL, 2002.

__________________., Manual For Hurricane Resistant Construction, Southern Building Code Congress International, Birmingham, Alabama, 1993.

__________________., Standard Building Code, 1997 editon, Southern Building Code Congress International, Birmingham, Alabama, 1997.

NOTES .

1. The Landscape Ordinance Research Project at Louisiana State University has conducted studies of landscape and tree laws since 1987. Visit their web site that provides useful information about community landscape codes, code vocabulary, design components, and technical standards. Visit LSU at www.greenlaws.lsu.edu.

2. Visit the International Society of Arboriculture at www.isa.org

3. The USDA Forest Service makes available a data base of tree ordinances which is found on the Urban Forestry South Expo web site at http://www.urbanforestrysouth.org/Resources/Ordinances. This is a searchable data base that is organized by subject and keyword.

4. Standards for tree preservation in Fulton County, Georgia supersede and replace those contained in the former Fulton County Tree Preservation Ordinance, adopted and approved on January8, 1986, and codified as § § 26-396 through 26-403, Fulton County Code of Laws (1997). Adopted by the Board of Commissioners, December 1, 1999, effective date of January 1, 2000 and revised January 2003 by the Department of Environment and Community Development, Plan Review Division.

5. Charles Weber writing in Shading Our Cities, Island Press, 1989 (Developing A Successful Urban Tree Ordinance makes the argument that well written tree ordinances are often written by committees who cut and paste from other community codes but he argues that that each code should be unique and tailored to local conditions, a workable compromise with de-regimented terminology. He makes no statement that the ordinance should be part of community zoning.

5. The large tree argument is advanced by the Center for Urban Forest Research (Davis, CA), working with the Southern Center for Urban Forestry Research & Information (Athens, GA) See the document at http://www.urbanforestrysouth.org/Resources/Library/Citation.2004-04-13.0724/file_name/

Center for Urban Forest Research (Davis, CA), Southern Center for Urban Forestry Research & Information (Athens, GA) 04/13/2004 USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station Davis, CA. 2004

6. Bernhardt, E.; Swiecki, T. J. 1991. Guidelines for developing and evaluating tree ordinances. Prepared for: Urban Forestry Program, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Sacramento, CA. 76 p.

7. Hoefer, P.J., Himelick, E.B., DeVoto, D.F., Municipal Tree Manual, Municipal Arborists and Urban Foresters Society, International Society of Arboriculture, Urbana IL. 1990.

Biography

Prof. D.G. Buck Abbey is Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at LSU and Principal of the Louisiana, landscape architecture - planning firm, Abbey Associates, Inc.. He has taught design, construction, graphics and computer technology courses at LSU since 1974. Abbey received his terminal degree from Harvard University. He is a recognized authority on municipal landscape codes and is author of the book U.S. Landscape Ordinances published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in 1998. He provides consulting services on landscape codes and site planning nationwide.

He maintains a research web site at LSU on the subject of landscape, tree and land alteration ordinances. The site provides assistance to anyone seeking help with writing landscape codes, tree preservation laws and land development code. The site can be visited at www.greenlaws.lsu.edu/

________________ _____ ____________ ______________________________ ____

This paper and a presentation in Florida in January 2005 has been made possible in part by grants from the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture And Forestry , The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and Environmental Protection Agency, and the Florida Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). (Green Laws, Trees and Blue Waters V3, Final)