Council & Business
7 February, 2025
Requests open for trees
The Central Goldfields Shire Council have a ‘shady offer’ for residents that want some natural cover along their local street.
Through a form on council’s website residents are able to request a tree to be planted in their neighbourhood in the upcoming planting season (May to June).
Brenton Hull, coordinator parks and open spaces, said the Planting Request Program is for nature strip tree planting within township boundaries.
On this year’s tree menu is capital ornamental pear, cimmaron ash, urbanite ash, and cleveland select.
Mr Hull said the four tree species residents can pick from are chosen to maintain consistency and to create an “avenue effect” over time.
“Height, maintenance, driveway spacing, powerlines, disease, root system and kerb damage are all considerations for selections to suit our shire, with some guidance from the State Government,” he said.
So far council’s Open Spaces team have received 35 requests this year compared to about 160 in 2024.
Now in its third year, the streetscape planting program has planted around 200 trees across the Central Goldfields Shire townships.
Staff member of the Open Spaces team Ross Andrews said planting these trees today is all about creating a legacy.
“These trees will be here well after I’m no longer here. It’s for the future generations and something to enjoy. I won’t see it in my lifetime but my kids and [my] grandkids will be able to think when they see those trees their grandad planted them,” he said.
Open Spaces staff member Sam Newberry agreed with Mr Andrews and said these trees will one day create shaded areas in local communities.
“You watch it grow and you have a sense of knowing you were a part of the tree’s legacy. It will be here for generations to come to enjoy,” she said.
The Open Spaces team nurture the trees until fully established which makes it all the more devastating when the team finds them vandalised.
“It’s disappointing when we see vandalism, when they’re snapped off at ground level after three or four years. You think all that time and effort that’s put in. Which, people might not realise, it’s quite a bit of money that goes in the background to look after those trees — the water, labour, the tree itself, replacement,” Mr Andrews said.
Applications close for the upcoming planting season on Friday, March 14, 2025
