Melbourne’s urban forest in decline

Melbourne boasts over 70,000 registered trees on streets and in parks that provide us with a multitude of advantages to make the city more pleasant to live in.

The current urban tree population is on the brink of decline as the useful life expectancy of many of the trees are coming to an end. It’s paramount we rectify this before it is too late the process of removing Melbourne’s trees as they decline for safety reasons comes into effect.

What the urban forest provides us goes largely unnoticed by most locals as they go about their daily lives.

The trees:

Clean and purifies the air
Stores carbon
Cool the city
Stop soil erosion
Provide habitat for native birds
Improving well-being and happiness of residents

Amenity Value – Useful life expectancy

Based on the above factors, trees are constantly being assessed by council arborist for their useful life expectancy and the value they bring to the surrounds.

There are a number of factors to take into account, but in today’s litigious society, the council are more worried about the safety of the trees above all else.

The City of Melbourne have put together a detailed digital register of Melbourne’s urban forest and outlined their plans to begin increasing the canopy cover that ads so much to the lives of locals and makes Melbourne the great city it is.

The problem with condensed planting regimes.

In the past, Melbourne had a focused period of planting that seemed like a good idea at the time, but unfortunately all the planted trees are coming to maturity at the same time and will begin to decline in unison. They will most likely all need removing around the same also.

This will leave a giant gap in Melbourne’s tree canopy which could have knock on affects such as increased heat, birdlife decline and dirtier air.

The cause

Most of the trees currently in decline are suffered from stress due to changes to their environment. Once of the biggest factors affecting all the trees is the current drought. Trees get used to a certain amount of water as they grow. If that water is then reduced due to mechanical or environmental factors, then the tree becomes stressed and partially shuts down to conserve energy.

Visually you will see signs of this in trees with branch die back, brown thinning and receding growth. This accelerates the trees decline by leaving it venerable to attack from pest, fungus and disease.

The solution

To counter this Melbourne City Council have come up with a number of solutions. To extend the life of the current trees, mulching and irrigation have been installed. This will give the trees more water, while further retaining ground moisture with mulch.

A planting plan that is sustainable now and into the future by staggering the plantings over years and not months and also planting a wider variety of trees better suited to the conditions. Having more tree diversity will also mean the trees will come to maturity at varying times which is perfect for maintaining Melbourne’s urban forest.