Tree Protection Area

Technical Standards for Tree Protection Area

General- TPAs and HPAs are parcels of land of various sizes on development sites. These special places are set aside and protected from development impact either voluntarily or by ordinance regulation. TPAs and HPAs preserve critical site resources, sensitive ecological features and areas, rare and endangered species as determined by Federal law, State statute or local ordinance.

Minimum Area- Area of habitat protection shall be fifteen (15) percent of the construction site.  This area may be geometrically round, irregular or linear. Linear preserved areas such as a rear property line buffers, stream bank buffer, or drainage way work best at preserving sensitive resources. Each tree protection area or habitat protection area size must be approved prior to construction by a landscape architect to ensure survival of the resource.

Minimum Length- shall be as needed with a minimum length of one hundred (100) feet.

Minimum Width- based upon the resource but a minimum of thirty (30) feet is recommended.

Sizing the Tree Protection Area (TPA)-  Set aside an area around the trunk of a tree to be preserved.  The purpose of the TPA is to protect the critical root zone (CRZ) of the tree and to prevent damage or interference during construction.  This area is established in several ways including tree size, diameter of the crown, diameter of the tree at DBH, and location of the feeder roots where most of the water and plant nutrients are taken up by the tree. Which ever method is used, the idea behind the sizing of the TPA is to protect the roots of the tree in order to allow it to survive changes in the site brought about during construction.

Protection Barricade-To preserve a tree or natural resource it is important to surround the tree prior to the start of construction with an in-movable tree barrier six (6) feet tall made of 4x4 and 2x4 structural members wrapped in orange construction warning barrier or chain link fencing to restrict all access to the critical root zone of the tree.

Protection Area Signage- The protected area shall be identified to contractors with the message: “No Access Allowed. This area is protected and shall not be accessible, graded, filled, used for storage or violated with chemical spills. Failure to comply will result in “liquidated damages” assessed against the Contractor or Sub Contractor pursuant to the terms of the construction contract. Contact the landscape architect xxx.xxx.xxxx for details.”