Tree Care

In a broad sense, our approach to tree care is focussed on long-term investment and maximising the potential of our city’s trees. This means we take a slow approach, one that is routed in academic and anecdotal research and one which understands the needs of each tree to thrive in its location. We have a dedicated team of Tree Care Volunteers, led by our Tree Care Coordinator and perform maintenance, formative pruning and repairs on trees and their support infrastructure.

For larger trees we assess overall condition and can help identify pests and diseases and risks to the tree that need addressing. Our goal is to grow canopy cover across the city and one of the best ways to do this is to maintain older trees. For newly planted trees we work with external contractors who water and survey the trees on a weekly basis May through September for the first three years after planting. Each tree is given approximately 850L of water in this time to improve chances of successful establishment. Trees without this support are less likely to survive the first three-five years and are more susceptible to stresses such as drought, soil compaction, frost, pollution, damage and pests and diseases.