Under duress

In Drouin, we have thousands of remnant and planted trees that are worth millions of dollars. The City of Melbourne Urban Forest Strategy uses a formula to calculate the monetary value of their street and parkland trees. When the formula is conservatively applied to some of Drouin’s remnant giant eucalypts, many of our big trees can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars – EACH!

Drouin's trees are the lungs of our town.

Drouin’s street and parkland trees contribute greatly to the liveability of our town - they make us healthier, improve our property values, lower our energy costs, provide habitat and biodiversity.

Some of our wonderful boulevards are under threat

BUT, our trees are under the combined threat of climate change, an ageing population, (trees, not people) and urbanization. It is a sad fact that we are going to lose a considerable percentage of our wonderful tree cover over the next several decades.

Many of our Ficifolias have reached maturity - how much longer will they survive?

Climate change

Longer, hotter and drier summers are stressing many of our green spaces. Some municipalities are exploring with water-sensitive urban designs that conserve storm water run-off rather than directing it into drains.

One simple and cost-effective technique being used is to cut holes in roadside curbs to direct water into root zones. Combined with a little ‘embankment’ engineering, this could be easily applied in numerous places in Drouin. Future road and street designs could incorporate some of these practical answers to giving our trees some added protection to the encroaching climate change scenario.

Much research concludes that tree planting, albeit on a large scale, could ameliorate the effects of climate change.

Perhaps one day, a painting or a photo is all we will have to remember our trees

Our trees add beauty, soften building lines, etc. Ever wondered what some areas of our town would look like without trees?

Ageing tree population

The age of many of Drouin’s remnant and planted trees is skewed toward the old age end of their life-span.

Without too much effort, a tree asset replacement program for our streets and parks could easily be devised and implemented as some sort of insurance against the sudden loss of many of our older trees that may well occur in the very near future. This may help ensure that our much-envied tree canopy is continued into the foreseeable future.

The Settlement Giant is estimated to be hundreds of years old, (size, location, hollows, etc), and must be in its twilight years.

Urbanization and trees

We all know the scenario – trees are cleared for a development and the replacement, (off-set), is either inappropriate – too little, poor species selection, etc – sometimes even non-existent or inexplicably, conducted in an area well beyond Drouin!

It has to be accepted that our town will expand exponentially, climate change is upon us and our trees are getting older. A well-planned sensitive tree asset program is essential, with policies and strategies that are strictly adhered to and not over-ridden by the likes of avaricious developers.

Further reading

The City of Melbourne Urban Forest Strategy.

We need canopy

The City of Melbourne Urban Forest Strategy, (link), in 2014, determined that large canopied trees provide greater value than smaller canopies – depending on scale, up to 75% more benefit per tree.

With nearly 90% of our population living in urban areas, Australia is one of the most urbanized countries in the world and we are facing serious challenges in regard to population growth, infrastructure, climate change, community health and just general liveability.

Our backyards are getting smaller and our houses, if anything, are getting larger. Less and less room is available to plant a significant tree and the diminutive species installed on the nature-strips by developers just don’t cut it – they do not and will not ever produce a worthwhile canopy.

And the irony of this situation, often, is that canopy trees of significant value have been removed to make way for a development.

Our urban sprawl is contributing to increased car use, huge infrastructure costs, loss of valuable farmland and native vegetation, elevated urban temperatures, a less healthy population and greater energy usage.

Tree canopy provides shade, saves energy, stores carbon, lowers the urban heat island effect, provides habitat, mitigates flooding and erosion, adds value to property, hides unattractive areas, provides privacy, improves mental and physical health, lowers crime, and adds to cultural and historical values.

To achieve worthwhile urban tree canopy requires long term vision and commitment and to work in terms of tree-life cycles, not electoral cycles. Strong and effective planning policies are required and less acquiescence to the desires of investors/developers.

Canopy, not cavity!

105!

Today, an Azure Kingfisher was added to the already impressive bird list for Drouin.

Azure Kingfishers feed on insects and small aquatic animals by taking shallow dives into the water. They prefer sources of fresh water such as streams, lagoons and dams etc, particularly where there is overhanging vegetation.

There are 9 or 10 species of Australian kingfishers, including the Kookaburra. The azure is a sedentary, monogamous species measuring just 17 or 18 cm - a Kookaburra is about 45 cm.

You can read about this sighting at Gouldiae's Blog where there are more images of this bird and where it was seen, etc.