As Development Revs Up in Southeast, One Anacostia Native Is Protecting Her Family’s Land and the Trees That Make It Home

Image via Washington City Paper

Growing up in Anacostia, Rebecca Renard-Wilson used to love driving the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. As Ward 8’s lush tree canopy came into view through the windshield, she knew she was close to home. 

“There’s a point where the parkway is a little higher than the land ahead of it,” she says. “I knew I was home because I saw the trees.”

Now, the house on a quarter-acre wooded lot that Renard-Wilson’s parents bought in 1980 faces intense pressure from developers. “They want to develop every inch,” she says. “But I want to ensure that, even if something happens, this land stays green space forever.”

To protect the family legacy and the trees that she loves, Renard-Wilson recently placed the land under a conservation easement with Casey Trees, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring and protecting the District’s tree canopy through planting and advocacy.

“Casey Trees supported me 5,000 percent through that process,” she adds. “They even submitted a letter to the Zoning Commission about what losing green space would mean for water retention and runoff.”