Canberra’s tree planting program is a public service that deserves respect. Photo: ACT Government.
Canberrans love their trees. Well, not all of us it seems.
Transport Canberra and City Services has told an audit of its tree management program that one of the reasons it is falling behind in its planting targets is because some residents just don’t want a free tree or two on their verge.
Why?
Some want to be able to keep it clear for illegal parking. Others are worried about safety, presumably a tree falling on someone or the house. And some don’t want to have to care for a tree (ie, give it a drink with a bucket of water every now and then).
An assessment of the Street Forestry Program found that a not insignificant 17.6 per cent of residents refused proposed new plantings on their verges.
That means TCCS has to find another location, which chews up time and resources and puts the program further behind.
Opposition to planting is the leading cause of what TCCS calls re-routing, and it has been increasing since spring 2021.
A total of 2485 trees have been subject to re-routing since then from a total of 20,117 trees planted during this period.
That’s 12.4 per cent of all trees planted. TCCS estimates that each tree subject to re-routing adds one to two hours of effort to the planting program.
That raises the question of why accepting a tree is optional.
TCCS tries to talk to residents about the benefits of trees and particular species, but staff also face abuse, and the trees are often vandalised or ripped up.
Three points here: staff shouldn’t be abused or threatened for performing a public service; the verge is public property, as are the trees; and damaging them or worse is a criminal act.
The government isn’t just planting trees for the hell of it – although they have an intrinsic value – it is part of maintaining and extending the urban forest to ease the urban heat island effect and cool our suburbs, especially in a warming climate.
It’s not just a Canberra greenie thing but a mitigation strategy being deployed by all Australian cities.
The ACT aims to achieve 30 per cent tree canopy cover by 2045.
Those selfish residents who privatise their verges for parking and choose to ruin the good work being done on our behalf by TCCS staff and contractors are cheating their neighbours and fellow Canberrans.
They deserve to be prosecuted and forced to pay for replacement trees. In fact, they should have to plant them as well, or maybe do some community service so they might realise the importance of trees and the errors of their ways.
Of course, the fact that the tree program is faltering is not all the fault of these recalcitrants.
They are just one factor, and TCCS needs to deal with its own shortcomings.
TCCS finds it hard to do it all in-house and secure contractors, and Yarralumla Nursery struggles to maintain supply.
As you would expect, there are bureaucratic issues, such as a lack of documented arrangements between TCCS and the nursery, policy and strategy failures, and competing objectives among directorates.
These can be remedied.
However, changing human behaviour is more problematic and necessary because the urban forest is something we all have a stake in and is a piece of public infrastructure that will literally save lives during heat waves.
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