Investments in our Urban Tree Canopy
- Tom Morrison
- 12 minutes ago
- 2 min read
This term, Council has made substantial investments in enhancing its tree management capabilities. Trees are an integral part of the city’s identity in my opinion, a key reason why many of us love living here. Mitcham is lucky to have high levels of tree canopy, but it is not something we can take for granted. With limited protections on private land (especially in the hills) due to State Government exemptions, there is an important need to maintain and grow Council’s tree canopy on public land.
There have been four key investments in trees so far:
Tree Assistance Fund (23/24 budget)
An additional Tree Maintenance Crew (24/25 budget)
Additional Arboriculture Resources (25/26 budget)
Tree Maintenance Volunteers (25/26 budget)
Tree Assistance Fund - $26,000 Annually
First introduced as a trial in the 23/24 budget (now an ongoing fund), this fund supports owners of large trees with maintenance costs. Inspired by similar programs in councils like Marion, it has seen significant demand. I hope during this year’s budget the process can be refined and funding increased.
Additional Tree Maintenance Crew - $400,522 Annually + $141,000 One-Off
Council manages well over 63,000 trees. Over the past 5 years, there has been a 55% increase in tree related maintenance requests from residents and general audits. The new tree maintenance crew started in August and is already having an impact, seeing tree defects reduced from around 1,200 in January this year, to under 800 and trending downwards. This additional capability will allow for pro-active tree maintenance going forward, extending the life of our trees and reducing resident requests.
Additional Arborist Resource - $287,342 Annually + $45,000 One-Off
Positive changes last year by the State Government to improve protections for trees have seen a significant increase in workload for Council’s arborist who assesses tree impacts from development applications, enforcement
requirements and compliance monitoring. This has seen the need for Council to add additional arborist resources to manage the protection of trees under the new legislation both on private and public land to meet the assessment timelines required and delivering better outcomes.
Tree Maintenance Volunteers - $7,000 Annually
A new volunteer program is launching soon, driven by strong interest from the community. Residents will be able to help with the formative pruning of young trees, sucker removal, re-tying new plantings to stakes, watering of newly planted trees and weeding/litter removal from water bowls.
On top of these investments, Council has also reviewed several tree related policies, with the big one – a revamp of Mitcham’s Tree Strategy scheduled to happen next year. This is a project I’m personally excited for as a lot has changed in the world of trees, especially in regard to management policies and community engagement since the original document was put together in 2015. If you have a minute, I’d encourage you to check out Council’s digital tree map:
You can even put in a planting request for next year!
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Holiday season.
