City of Darwin’s Tree Re-establishment Advisory Committee (TRAC) and Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis were at the George Brown Botanical Gardens today for the start of the Tree Replanting Community Consultation.

The consultation is part of the work being undertaken by the Tree Re-establishment Advisory Committee which was set up by Council to assist with the replanting in the aftermath of Cyclone Marcus

The Committee is made up of experts from local industry and community. It has now assessed the cyclone resilience of the 200-plus tree species on Council land and the ‘Draft List of Trees’ is released for community consultation. The Committee would like to get feedback from the community before they finalise their report to Council.

Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis said the Committee’s report will be presented to Council in November.

“The report will recommend to Council which trees are, and which trees are not, cyclone resilient and advise on best practice for propagating, planting and looking after these trees in Darwin,” said the Lord Mayor.

The committee want to hear from any interested or expert members of the community. Areas for comment include:

Tree species that may be missing from the list
Categorisation of the cyclone resilience as either high, medium or low
Information on tree species in the ‘Inconclusive’ category.

“Whether you want to comment on one tree or are an expert with feedback on the complete list of trees under review we appreciate your input,” said Dr Greg Leach, Chair of the Tree Re-establishment Advisory Committee.

He added, “It would also be useful if community members have knowledge of trees in the ‘inconclusive category that may assist us in rating these species.

“I’m sure the list of trees that have low cyclone resilience will be of interest. After the cyclone, 2,857 trees were surveyed and 15.4% of these trees were uprooted. As people saw, a lot of African Mahoganies came down and, in fact, 66% of all African Mahoganies in the survey were uprooted. There are many reasons for this and a key one is the sheer size of these trees.

“There were some real species success stories in the cyclone too. But that doesn’t mean we should plant all of that species. There is no one perfect tree for Darwin. A range of trees of varying ages and attributes are needed. It is all about having the right tree in the right place,” confirmed Dr Leach.

“The aim of the work being done now is to make sure that we do not repeat past mistakes and for Council to have a comprehensive list of species to plan for the replanting of trees within our community,” added the Lord Mayor.

For more information on the Tree Replanting consultation or to have your say visit Council’s Engage Darwin webpage at engage.darwin.nt.gov.au/trc.

The consultation closes on Sunday 14 October.

The photograph shows the Tree Reestablishment Advisory Committee members (left to right) Alderman Peter Pangquee, Jamie Lewis, Tony Cox, Dr Greg Leach (Chair), Fiona Eddlestone, Yvette Brady, Adam Grainger, Simon Smith