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The
old/diseased tree removal program, began last week in parts of Ainslie,
including Corroboree
Park, as described
in the
page 3 story in todays Canberra Times
(that focuses on a single Eucalyptus
mannifera). A further note may be of interest.
Five trees were in fact felled in the Corroboree Park
plantings. Two of them were on the western, Toms Crescent, side of the
park:
one was a favourite perching site of the Australian Hobbies that
frequent/nest
in the Park (clearly visible from my back deck and a sad personal
loss!), the other will
be missed by numbers of galahs who were always at work on its bark (and
who
complained bitterly when it was being felled). When the
felling/clearing/mulching
was in progress, I told one of the work team about the nesting Tawny
Frogmouths
in a neighbouring tree, and suggested they be given as much space from
noise/disturbance
as possible.
I don’t know about the immediate health status of the felled trees,
however the notification sent out to (some?) immediate neighbours of
the Park on
29 May by Scenic Landscape Architecture (who assessed the viability of
the
trees), gave the following reasons for the removal of the five trees:
“Poor condition,
hollows throughout tree”; “Poor condition dead on top, fungal wood
decay”; “Serious
Upper Trunk rot”; and “Extensive lower trunk damage”). The
next morning walking through the Park I
encountered Stephen Ryan, the host of the ABC Gardening Australia
program, with
a camera crew who were filming another tree (not a mannifera)
in the centre of the Park (near the basketball court) that
Ryan told me was totally hollow and thus also should be removed. I
think ducks had
nested in that tree last year. Look out for a future segment on the
program on
the problems of elderly urban trees? Ryan was pushing the issue of
public safety,
especially in parks used by many including children.
Replantings (14 E. mannifera are promised to fill in
the
gaps from the 5 now cut, and earlier gaps) are planned at Corroboree
Park. But one wonders whether
such replacements will be as successful and longlived as the existing
trees,
when one sees how damaging current park management practices appear to
be (eg grasscutting
by large sit-on mowers/tractor mowers that bump against unprotected
lower trunks
of young trees; use of the park for parking heavy equipment).
Robin
Hide
Nick Payne wrote:
I
noticed a few days ago that TAMS have started chopping down trees on
the median strip of Captain Cook Crescent near Manuka. In the past
couple of weeks, in just the three blocks of Captain Cook Crescent
between Stuart Street and Barallier Street, I have seen Eastern and
Crimson Rosellas entering nesting hollows in two of the trees on the
median strip. If TAMS feel it is necessary to remove these trees, they
should not be doing it while native birds may be using the nesting
hollows in the trees. I've put in feedback on the ACT Government web
site suggesting this. If they get more feedback along the same lines
from other people as well, more notice may be taken.
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