Suburban land clearing

Gerogeb, do you really think the workers are making the decisions? They are paid to perform tasks decided by their masters. Failure to follow orders will see them out of work. Unfortunately, their masters aren’t there when the cave dweller emerges and grunts about the shrubs outside the cave. Clearly, the government needs you running it, then “everything would be perfick”.

The same comments apply to the Kaleen streets that I originally wrote about – Yes, there may have been some percentage of older vegetation, but much of it is perfectly OK, and they definitely are native plants (I have also walked and cycled past, not just driven).

If the clearing is taking place because the plants are past their use by date then surely something should be replanted in their place. Can’t do that because of the drought? Greening Australia don’t seem to think so – they are having a working bee to plant 3000 trees, shrubs & grasses tomorrow at Pierces Creek.

I find it interesting that some people have the attitude that “it wouldn’t be done without a reason”, “they are professionals”, the government knows best etc etc.

I don’t really care whether the people doing the clearing are professionals or yellow shirted yobbos, or some combination thereof, what they are doing is stupid and ugly.

bd84 said :

I would question the claim that they’re cutting down healthy trees or bushes, given that these people would most likely be professionals. The tree may look healthy from your car as you whiz past, but there are a lot of dead or dying trees around that have died because of the drought. But then they could be clearing it because they aren’t native plants, or specific other reasons. I have generally thought that the areas they have cleared have looked a lot better after the event anyway.

I’m talking about areas I walk through, in some cases I’ve walked past the trees and shrubs for over a decade every working day and most weekends. They were in good condition, and the contractors weren’t tree surgeons, they were given general instructions to “tidy”. A parkland effect where you have large trees growing in chipbark might look “nice”, but I’d rather a bushland effect with the attendant wildlife. And as a pedestrian I can vouch for the fact that it’s easier walking at night along a goat track in soil surrounded by vegetation than to try to pick your way along a rutted area that’s eroded with stones scattered around, with car headlights making it difficult to see in the night.

What a sad lot we have become, that we need people to protect us from the myriad dangers of bushes. Used to be that bushes and undergrowth and greenery were considered prettier than colourbond fences and other man made structures.

They’ve cleared lots of urban/semi-urban scrub over the last 4 or so years. I would question the claim that they’re cutting down healthy trees or bushes, given that these people would most likely be professionals. The tree may look healthy from your car as you whiz past, but there are a lot of dead or dying trees around that have died because of the drought. But then they could be clearing it because they aren’t native plants, or specific other reasons. I have generally thought that the areas they have cleared have looked a lot better after the event anyway.

They started doing that in the Woden area since before the fires. The contractors moved into the roadside reserves with heavy machinery to remove healthy trees and shrubs, then another lot come along to remove what was damaged by the previous mob and the cycle continues. A few years ago the contractors did my side of the road three times in two weeks, and were willing to sell the chipped trees at $50 a truck load.

With the removal of the undergrowth the lizards and small birds disappeared as there was no food or shelter for them, and plants like the native bluebells vanished with them. There’s more rubbish visible and grafitti infests fences that previously had metres of dense bush hiding them from the street. The guys on the ride-on mowers cause a lot of damage as they slice below the surface and gouge deep ruts into the earth, and hit tree trunks with enough force to knock off bark, not to mention mowing down young trees, including trees deliberatly planted whether by residents or official groups.

Yet roadside trees that grow into the powerlines are left untouched.

They are clearing (or have cleared) along several kilometres of roadway, so it isn’t about tree roots or visibility on corners. The idea of safety for pedestrians hadn’t occured to me – perhaps if that is the reason they should get stuck into some of the other bush in the area as well, or even overgrown front yards…

CapitalK said :

In terms of graffiti – surely the visibility would be a deterrent?

Heck no. They want their work to be seen. Besides, who’s looking at 3 in the morning?
I can see the reason for doing it, but if my house was along that road I would have been pretty upset about it.

There’s a few places around where they cut everything down, then a few months later planted it out again. Near the intersection of Chuculba and William Slim. Hayden Drive near the UC car park. etc.

“I noticed some fantastic painted shrubbery “

imagine the hours of patience required as those damn leaves keep moving! 😉

Personally I think Baldwin Drive looks 100% since they removed some of the shrubs. I also think it is much safer for pedestrians and even the houses backing it – you can clearly see the fence line now.
In terms of graffiti – surely the visibility would be a deterrent?
I noticed some fantastic painted shrubbery along Hindmarsh Drive a few nights back – painted all along a stretch of fence, looked great in the night light, haven’t seen it in the day so can’t comment there.

Interesting,

Supposing that there is some legitimate reason for the removal, what are the chances that they could be removed carefully and relocated to somewhere else….like my front garden. I’ll pay, or perhaps like the hard rubbish days if the trees marked can I just come along and take it??

Are they blocking visibility around corners? Or overgrowing or root-damaging footpaths? Perhaps providing concealment for people preying on pedestrians?

GCC regularly gets such concerns from residents and passes them onto P&L for such attention.

There are many reasons P&L would be removing shrubs, but I doubt they’d be doing ANY work without a valid reason.