Tuesday 2 November Cr Anna De Villiers

Published on 02 November 2021

After one year on Council, I am still amazed and fascinated by the intricacies and complexities involved at the Local Government level.

For instance, I had never before stopped to think about the management of trees! Trees are regarded as Council assets along with buildings and roads. However, trees are living assets and are managed as such. There are a number of organisations and Government departments involved in developing policies and guidelines around tree management.

At the Central Goldfields Shire we have a number of policies regarding trees and tree management in the public realm.  An audit of trees was undertaken in 2017 and it was recorded that the Shire had a total of 6,088 trees on public ground. Currently a team of officers are updating a database which records the information related to each tree’s location, species and size. The database also records which trees warrant special protection, such as historically significant trees, rare trees, and those that need to be protected based on their size.

Trees are an essential part of the urban and rural fabric, providing essential habitat for wildlife and critical services for people and communities by helping cool our towns, providing shade and reducing energy demands.

A Tree Management Plan was adopted by Council in August 2020 and makes for interesting reading. It is available on Council’s website at www.centralgoldfields.vic.gov.au/treemanagementplan