For love of the trees ...

For love of the trees ...

Trees make our CBD a beautiful place to live.  How can residents show their love?

Trees are an important part of the ecosystem. Whether they are in a jungle, the bush, gardens and parks or in the city streets.

Their leafy crowns provide shade from the beating summer sun and they offer shelter, protection and food for various birds and other small animals.

Trees convert carbon dioxide (CO2), which comes from burning fossil fuels, into oxygen. Yes - carbon dioxide is the gas generally attributed to global warming and trees help reduce its concentration in the atmosphere. And yes – oxygen is the gas necessary for all animals and humans to sustain life. It takes seven to eight mature trees to produce enough oxygen for one person. Think about it!

The City of Melbourne (CoM) cares about our trees.  It has a website that shows a grand plan for the development of our urban forest. Go to this link or just type in “Urban Forest Visual” and you will find the site.  Planting map: http://melbourneurbanforestvisual.com.au/plantingmap.html

However, the most amazing thing is that every tree has been identified, categorised by type and its life span noted.  Every tree in the CBD has an email address.  What does this mean?

As a resident of the city, when you walk around and see a tree in trouble, you can find that particular tree on the CoM’s website and send it an email.  (Of course, the email goes to the carers of the Urban Forest and they can take the necessary action.)   Here is the web site link.

Map with tree IDs: melbourneurbanforestvisual.com.au/#mapexplore

Take my own story.  The summer before last, I was walking my dog down Collins St.  It was really hot and we had not had rain for weeks.  A poor young plane tree was showing stress. It obviously needed water desperately.  What could I do?  Well, I went into the nearest coffee shop and asked for some water.  The owner said, that each night, instead of throwing their customer drinking water down the drain they would give it to the tree.  The tree survived and is now much stronger.  If I had known about the CoM’s website, I could have emailed the tree asking for it to be watered!

There is real evidence that people love our trees.  Look at the adjacent photo.  The trees have been given attractive, warm coats for winter. These lucky trees have been visited by Melbourne’s famous Yarn Corner craft group whose motto is “Covering the Town in Yarn”.  See their web site at: www.yarncorner.com.au/#

Become a citizen urban forester

The City of Melbourne is seeking volunteers to help create resilient, healthy and diverse urban landscapes for the future.

Citizen foresters are trained and empowered to grow the urban forest and improve urban ecology by carrying out essential advocacy, monitoring and research tasks.  More information is available from this link: participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/citizenforester

Trees come and go ...

It is with great sadness that we see all the trees in the City Square taken out to allow for the construction of the CBD South metro tunnel station.  In addition, the beautiful trees on Little Collins St between Exhibition and Russell street shown in the adjacent photo are to be removed for a construction project.

Why the gantries cannot be modified to go around the trees is a puzzle.  This has successfully been accomplished for the same construction site around the corner in Collins St.

Welcome the newbies on the block ...

As you walk around the city you will see quite a large number of beautiful new trees recently planted.  An example is shown in the photo.  A brand-new plane tree in Collins St.

Some of these newbies have a difficult time getting established.  This is where residents can play a role.

If you see a tree struggling or having branches damaged, send the tree an email!  A caring CoM forester will attend to the problem.  If you do not help, the CoM foresters who care for 70,000 trees may not know and the tree may die.

Come on residents of postcode 3000, you have an important role to play in loving and caring for our precious trees.  Be proactive and communicate with the trees.

Trees make our Melbourne CBD a beautiful place to live. Show your love!

Since Labor has been in power …

Since Labor has been in power …

March 20th, 2024 - Evan Mulholland
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