In a Sept. 17 letter to the D.C. Council, the Commanders committed to saving an unspecified number of the estimated 31 heritage trees currently on the development site. “We intend to protect as many of the Heritage Trees as possible, including all of the trees in the Festival Plaza,” according to the letter signed by Mark Clouse, the team’s president. Heritage trees that measure at least 100 inches in circumference are illegal to cut down without explicit permission from the mayor. But under the legislation that passed Sept. 17, the Commanders will pay just $55 per inch of circumference for any heritage tree they remove. D.C. environmentalists and Ward 7 community groups expressed concern that removing dozens of pin oak, willow oak, swamp white oak, and elm heritage trees would worsen those conditions.