As I have indicated in many a blog post including the last one, I have been waiting for Council to implement a pallet of suitable street trees- a street tree species guideline.
The selection of suitable trees for our streets was the subject of conversation resulting from my last blog post. Both by way of comments on my blog post and verbal conversations. All much appreciated.
Here is some good news folks. I have followed up as promised in my Queensland Box on how we are going developing that pallet of suitable species.
We are well down the track at creating that pallet. In conjunction with the Resilient East group of Councils, we now have a street tree species guideline. It can be found on the Resilient East website, specifically on this page
Feel free to check out the chart on that article. Feel free to check out the rest of the site too. I expect you will be impressed with what the member Councils of Resilient East is up to.
What can be seen from the chart is that some significant research has been put into this exercise. The observations you have raised have been covered.
Things like utilising indigenous trees. Obvious things like how tall they will grow and how much canopy they provide and therefore how much shade they provide. What about things like how much water and how much pruning they need? Things accordingly like their life span and their resilience to drought and disease.
What I don’t see yet are criteria such as how much leaf shedding, they do. This was a big conversation point about the Queensland Box in my last blog post. Likewise, the shedding of gum nuts, and the tendency for their roots to cause trip hazards in the paving.
Inclusion of these negatives in the final draft I will seek on your behalf.
The Council is also participating in further collaboration with the University of Adelaide to identify an increased range of species and cultivars suitable for planting adjacent to existing infrastructure in negotiation with SAPN and SA Water. It is hoped the list would increase the opportunity for street tree planting locations adjacent to services (above and below ground), as well as increase the canopy cover to be achieved from an expanded species list.
Subject to the timing of these separate studies, we would hope to consolidate a preferred street tree planting list for the City of Unley, in conjunction with the updated Tree Policy to Council in 2023. Watch this space.
Street Sweeping will be the subject of a future blog post.
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