2021-03-29
To paraphrase the late American R & B musician Luther Ingram, If Loving Trees Is Wrong, I Don’t Wanna Be Right.
Maybe not everyone is willing to wear their tree-hugging heart on their sleeve like I am, but is there any real disagreement on the benefits of trees, not just in the bush but in our urban landscapes?
They provide shade in our parks and over our streets and pathways. They cool our homes and beautify our suburbs. They reduce air pollution and help remove not just CO2 but nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and ground-level ozone. They provide habitat and enhance biodiversity. They can provide wind-breaks and shelter from rain.
These benefits are nice to have. They’re also, if you’re inclined this way, able to be expressed in an actual dollar value. For example, New York’s urban trees remove enough air pollutants to provide an estimated $9.5 million of value to the city every year. Across Australia, homes with trees in their gardens or in their street achieve consistently higher sale prices than homes without.
The ACT Government needs no convincing on the tree thing. It has already set a target of 30% urban tree cover by 2045. The question now is not a matter of whether or why, but how?
Firstly, we need to ensure that all elements of Government are contributing towards achieving this target. Planning needs to ensure that plot ratios allow for the planting of trees. City Services need to keep getting out and planting. The Environmental Protection Agency needs to protect existing trees. The Suburban Land Agency needs to design for good tree cover in new developments.
We need to make sure the target is not just a figure in a glossy brochure but drives real change across our suburbs. As a part of the ACT Government, I want us to be held accountable. And I want us to ensure equitable distribution of the leafy green goodness.
Currently, Gungahlin’s tree canopy cover is just 4%. Molonglo’s is even lower, at a mere 1%. Time is of course a factor here but not the only one. The plot ratios in these districts mean plantings on public land will have to do the heavy lifting
But the Government isn’t the only party involved, here.
We need buy-in on our ambition from the whole community. The still-open YourSay project inviting Canberrans to submit suggestions for places to plant trees has currently received close to 2,500 submissions, and the interactive map is dotted with tree pins across the whole city. This is an encouraging sign, but we need boots on the ground, too.
If you’re purchasing a new residential block of land, I encourage you to take advantage of your free plant allocation, which may be registered and collected up to two years from signing the land purchase agreement. Just google “free plant issue scheme” to find out more.
If we plant the right trees in our new suburbs – shady but drought tolerant, suited to the variations in soil type in different parts of our city – their tree canopy cover will steadily improve.
If you’re already settled in a house but the garden needs attention, think about how you can use trees to shade and cool west-facing walls and windows, screen outdoor living areas from public view, or provide homegrown fruit to eat. You’ll save money on cooling costs, improve privacy and enjoy the kind of stone fruits you’d never get from the supermarket.
If you’re renting, take note of recent changes to ACT tenancy laws that now allow you greater freedom in gardening on rented property.
And if you belong to any kind of community group, think about how that group can contribute to enhancing Canberra’s tree canopy cover. Does your scout hall or church have unused ground around it that could be landscaped and planted? Could your sports club benefit from more shade for spectators? Can your special-interest club “adopt” a piece of unloved terrain? Recent rain has dramatically improved soil moisture levels, and now would be a great time to put in some young trees.
As part of my commitment to this issue, I’m about to put a motion before the Assembly asking the government to provide detail on the “how” of achieving our tree canopy target, to deliver regular progress reports, broken down by suburb, and to actively support community-led contributions towards the target.
…Because trees matter, and I’m not the only one who thinks so.
Trees were central to the last election campaign, which leads me to only one possible conclusion.
If Loving Trees Is Wrong, most Canberrans – just like me - Don’t Wanna Be Right.