Tree board urges Charles Town to fund maintenance, buy equipment after big volunteer push

Aaron Amore, chair of the Charles Town Tree Board, told the council the board’s volunteers and partners planted hundreds of trees last year but the city still lacks a long‑term maintenance plan and the equipment needed to care for them.

"This is an absolute failure of the tree board," Amore said. "We don't have a plan to maintain the trees." He summarized recent accomplishments — a pollinator garden at the skate park, a large riparian planting along Evitts Run and a successful BMP tree sale that resulted in 173 trees delivered to residents — and said much of the heavy lifting was done by volunteers and outside partners such as the Potomac Conservancy and the Kecapin Institute.

Amore presented a draft budget and a list of priorities to reduce contractor costs and preserve recent plantings: a recurring maintenance line roughly equal to $2 per capita (budgeted at about $12,955 in the tree board draft), funds for contractor services when needed (about $5,000), and capital items — an auger attachment for the skid steer, pruning equipment and a stump grinder — to avoid repeatedly renting equipment. He said the tree board received grants and in‑kind help that made recent large plantings possible but stressed that planting without a funded maintenance program would create higher costs later.

Council members asked about how the tree board coordinates with city maintenance and parks staff. Amore said the board relies on coordination with city staff for tasks such as calling Miss Utility, drilling holes and providing machinery; he proposed moving tree‑related funds into a maintenance line so staff could access them when needed. He described a plan to digitize and update the 2019 canopy inventory and to use cloud‑based tools and an app to track tree health and location.

Why it matters: Charles Town has significantly expanded tree plantings in recent years; without a maintenance budget and basic equipment the city could face rising contractor costs, declining tree survival and higher long‑term maintenance liabilities. Amore said modest, recurring funding and one‑time capital purchases would enable the city to protect the investments already made and qualify more reliably for future grants.

What’s next: The tree board’s draft budget and equipment list are already included in the FY2026 budget materials; council members said they will review details as part of the budget and capital discussions, and staff will return with clearer line‑item placements and tracking methods for staff time and volunteer hours.