Sussex County gets serious about forest protection

According to the Delaware State Forest Service, Sussex County has lost 43,000 acres of forest in less than 25 years, much of it due to residential construction. Sussex Council members are attempting to steer development toward established towns and areas already experiencing growth, rather than rural parts of the county where large tracts of forest remain.

On September 1, Sussex County Council voted unanimously to adopt a forest preservation ordinance. It refines the current county code to help ensure more valuable forests are protected as a standard. “We would do that by creating specific definitions that allow certain types of forests to be identified as more valuable than others. If passed, and as a requirement with each new development, there would be a tree specialist who would provide a report on each forest and identify the areas required to be preserved," says 1st district (Seaford - Laurel area) councilman Matt Lloyd. There is a provision for a five year "look back". "Cutting first no longer helps. If forest was cleared, harvested, or grubbed on a parcel within five years before the application, the builder must mitigate for it anyway — and can get no notice to proceed until five years have passed from the day the trees came down. Land cut but not stumped or regraded still counts as forest. " The measure will now become law on December 1st.