Exceptional trees

lol. Be careful.

Should your wood be listed as exceptional, any tampering by humans could mean that it is quarantined for a few years.

Great, I’ll pop it out for them tomorrow!

Apparently so Mr Evil. submissions may be made by members of the community for consideration.

I’ve sometimes thought to myself that I’ve got an exceptional piece of wood: do you think Jon will let me register it? 😉

I know we put something up on RiotACT (can’t remember if it was old or new) when this legislation was first introduced but for the life of me I cannot find it to put up again

anyone else want to have a go, it was all about the remarkable and exceptional tree register

I imagine that there were possibly some very significant trees along Bruce Ridge, but I don’t recall Comrade giving a rat’s arse when they were being bulldozed.

LOL – Commrade indicates that his Party is “the only party with a vision for the future that involves anything but vistas of concrete and paving”.

He is joking of course!

Jon Stanhope’s put out a media release (not yet online so reproduced below) saying the Liberals and Greens clearly don’t care about trees, exceptional or otherwise, because they haven’t bothered to understand the legislation or its background (well, according to Stanhope).

ENVIRONMENTAL CREDENTIALS OF LIBS, GREENS IN TATTERS
The environmental credentials of both the Liberal Opposition and Greens MLA Deb Foskey were in tatters today, and it was patently clear that neither party was remotely concerned about the future of Canberra’s trees, Environment Minister Jon Stanhope said.

“The sheer ignorance displayed by both parties over the past two days in relation to the Government’s tree protection legislation has beggared belief, Mr Stanhope said today.

“The depths of the Liberals’ ignorance was highlighted yesterday, during Assembly debate, when it emerged that none of the Liberals present in the House was aware that the Government tree protection Bill they characterised as ‘draconian’ was in fact an amelioration of an interim scheme put in place by none other than the current Liberal Opposition leader, Brendan Smyth.

“If the Liberals think the Government’s Bill is tough, goodness knows how much sleep they must have lost over the scheme they personally put in place. They must be flagellating themselves.”

Mr Stanhope said he had been equally astonished to hear Greens MLA Deb Foskey opining today on the lack of consultation on the Bill.

“For a so-called environmentalist, Dr Foskey seems not to have had her finger on the pulse of things at all on the years leading up to her election to the Assembly,” Mr Stanhope said. “One would have thought that someone who sets themselves up as a guardian of the environment, as Dr Foskey so piously does, would have had some glancing familiarity with a consultation process that has been going on for three years, and that has involved everyone from the arboriculture industry, tree protection groups, architects, developers, surveyors, the Conservation Council and the Heritage Council, among others.

“Anyone and everyone with an interest in the protection of trees has had ample opportunity to have their views taken into consideration. And that includes, incidentally, the company that employs the arborist who was on local radio this morning, claiming that he had never heard of the Bill. My information is that this company, a tree-felling company, in common with every other arboricultural business listed in the Yellow Pages, was sent a copy of the discussion paper and invited to face-to-face briefings.”

Mr Stanhope said that the consultation over the Bill had been long and thorough. A discussion paper, prepared in consultation with ACT for Trees and members of the development sector, had been released in October 2003 and had been publicly available via the Internet as well as through shopfronts and public libraries. Community comments were invited for two months after the release of the paper.

Among those involved in the consultation were:
• ACT for Trees;
• arboriculturalists;
• the development industry;
• landscape architects;
• the Institute of Spatial Surveyors;
• the Housing Industry Association;
• the Property Council;
• the Environmental Defender’s Office;
• the Conservation Council;
• the Commissioner for the Environment;
• the Heritage Council; and
• the Majura, West Belconnen, Manuka, Burley Griffin, Ginninderra and Inner North Local Area Planning Committees.

Public meetings were also held. Past and present tree advisors including Dr Robert Boden and Dr John Banks were significantly involved in the preparation of the discussion paper, the Bill and the criteria.

“It is astounding that this long and elaborate process could have occurred without the knowledge of Dr Foskey, and that she could now stand up in the Legislative Assembly and protest about the lack of consultation.

“This Bill is one of the most exhaustively, comprehensively and rigorously prepared pieces of legislation conceivable. It is one thing for the Government’s political opponents to misrepresent the Bill for political ends, but it is quite another for the alternative government in this Territory to reveal itself as so ill-informed, so inept and so poorly prepared, that it seems unaware of its own role in the evolution of this legislation.

“The Liberals know very well that their criticisms of the Bill are groundless and that their unconscionable claims about the effects of the Bill on ordinary home owners are highly coloured and alarmist. Their behaviour has been nothing short of despicable.

“What this episode has clearly revealed is that Labor is the only party in this Territory that has the slightest understanding of the environmental and cultural value of exceptional Canberra trees, the only party with a sense of this city’s history, and the only party with a vision for the future that involves anything but vistas of concrete and paving.”