Urban Forest Renewal Program 2025
Help Us Plan(t) for the Future
Street trees are part of what we call the urban forest. They play a big role in making our Shire a better place to live and, offer social, economic and environmental benefits. Trees enhance, define, and soften streetscapes, provide shade and cooling and habitats for wildlife; furthermore - help to create communities where people want to live.
Through street tree planting, Wellington Shire Council aims to achieve a variety of benefits, including increasing tree diversity in the urban forest, mitigating climatic change by cooling streets and providing shade to ensure the health and wellbeing of our community. This initiative aligns with Council’s community commitment as outlined in the Council Plan 2021-2025 to expand, enhance and maintain the high quality urban forest across our townships.
A significant part of Council’s Urban Forest Renewal Program is providing ratepayers the opportunity to select the type of trees that are to be planted on the nature strip in front of their property. The species selected included a range of natives and exotics that suit climatic conditions, soil types and consider powerlines overhead, while also diversifying the urban forest.
The Results
Through extensive consultation last year, Council have tallied the responses received and have now ordered over 600 trees to be planted across a number of townships in the coming months.
From the responses received there are over 90 different tree species 52% of the trees are native. The top 5 species selected are:
- Irish Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo)
- River Birch (Betula nigra ‘BNMTF’ Dura Heat)
- Dwarf Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata ‘Lowanna’)
- Evergreen Ash (Fraxinus griffithii)
- Illawarra Flame Tree (Brachychiton acerifolius)
Included in the mix of tree species are a range of new species that are being trialled to determine their suitability for future planting across Wellington Shire. As our climate changes, and to ensure that in future years the urban forest is not impacted by less rainfall and hotter temperatures, Council undertakes Living Lab trials of new species not currently growing in the area. Some of the species included in the Living Labs program for 2025 are:
- White Yiel Yiel (Grevillea hiliana)
- Pink Flair Cherry (Prunus sargentii ‘Pink Flair’)
- European Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
- Round Leaf Mallee (Eucalyptus orbifolia)
Next Steps
To assist in planting the trees, Council have engaged Agile Trees, local tree contractors, to undertake the works. With over 1,000 trees being planted across the shire, it is not possible to provide exact dates as to when works will commence in Stratford, only that all trees are anticipated to be planted prior to July 2025.
All trees are recorded within Council’s Urban Forest Asset Management System, and once planted, Council will then coordinate the regular watering of newly planted trees through the drier months. Residents are not required to do anything, but should you wish, the trees would welcome additional watering to establish to be healthy and long-lived.
Council will undertake regular inspections of the newly planted trees to monitor the establishment of new trees.
With the implementation of our Urban Forest Asset Management System, it has enabled residents are able to explore Wellington Shire’s Urban Forest. Click the link below to watch our urban forest grow.
