Hands off our native trees plea to council

‘I’ve called for a Model Tree Policy to protect trees across the metropolitan region,’ Ms MacLaren said.

‘I urge the City to think again. Cities are for people, and clearly residents highly value these native trees.’

The Belmont Resident/ Ratepayers Action Group also reiterated calls for the City of Belmont to prioritise retention of native trees.

The plea came in the wake of last Tuesday’s report in the Gazette that 14 Australian native trees would be removed in February and replaced with North American red oaks as part of a car park expansion at Centenary Park.

‘We should be retaining native trees and replanting natives, and the older the tree the more environmentally significant it is,’ action group president Rob Greenwood said.

Mr Greenwood said each tree species supported a different set of insect species, and the local action group had been pushing the city for several years to form a tree register to identify significant trees and encourage appropriate native trees in its annual planting initiatives.

The red oaks grow fast and provide shade in summer then let light through in winter, according to the city.

The trees marked for removal were planted in 2000 and include eastern states eucalypts, a WA mallee and a WA flooded gum.