The Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate is calling on Canberrans to identify new tree planting locations and is preparing to launch a pilot program to teach people how to care for the trees.
Minister for City Services, Chris Steel said finding appropriate spaces for new trees was critical as the Directorate ramped up the fifth major tree planting program in Canberra’s history.
“A team of six staff are working their way across our city to identify vacant sites suitable for new public trees to be planted and the team has visited over 7,500 sites in over 60 suburbs across Canberra as part of our rapid audit process,” Mr Steel said.
“These sites will be ranked in order of priority based on a location’s canopy cover, heat vulnerability and streetscape renewal significance, and will inform how we order tree species for future years,” he said.
“As part of the audit process they are looking for information on existing planting patterns and site conditions such as the type of surface cover, competition from existing vegetation, space constraints and existing infrastructure like powerlines and underground services.”
Mr Steel said the information captured by the auditing team would inform future tree planting programs, with over 54,000 trees to be planted in the Territory by 2023-2024.
The Minister said sites had already been identified for this year’s Autumn planting program of 3,500 trees, which was set to start within the next month.
“Sites that have already been audited, and which will receive new trees in the Autumn program, include parkland paths in Moncrieff, Barrier Street in Fyshwick and the Gordon shops,” he said.
Ms Steel said Canberrans could have a say on where to plant trees by “dropping a pin” on an interactive map on the YourSay website.
The Directorate said a pilot of its Street Forestry Program would also get underway this month in six streets across Canberra.
“The Street Forestry Program is a collaborative project designed to involve and educate residents on the social, economic and environmental value of residential street trees and increase awareness regarding how communities can care for their street trees,” the Directorate said.
“Streets in Florey, Ngunnawal, Kambah, Bonython, Scullin and Mawson have been selected for the Street Forestry program as they have been identified as being vulnerable to extreme heat,” it said.
Further information on how to suggest tree planting locations can be accessed at this PS News link.
