This is a recent letter to council:

Greg Meyers
Director, Planning and Environmental Services
25/2/16

Dear Greg,

I would like to acknowledge the many excellent projects the Armidale Dumaresq Council has initiated in previous years to move towards environmental sustainability. However, I would like express extreme concern at some recent developments, which have seen numerous large native trees felled. The most significant is the Taylor Street development near Newling Oval which has seen the felling of a number of mature and highly significant trees. Not only has this resulted in a great deal of dismay and anger among many residents, it has lessened the aesthetic nature of the neighbourhood; removed shade; decimated avifauna habitat and driven birds away; increased noise; and decreased the financial value of the area. The careful protection of large native trees in ‘leafy’ parts of Sydney, for example, is a major reason for their reputation as highly desirable property.

More importantly, retaining trees is a simple but highly effective way of combatting climate change, whose effects are having ever greater economic and social effects as extreme weather events grow in intensity (witness the recent Fijian cyclone, or the 89 devastating fires in Tasmania this summer, and the damage to the cross Tasman ferry, both of which impacted enormously on the tourist industry). It will take many years to repair the environmental damage done by the Taylor Street development.

Native trees not only act as carbon sinks and storage, but they provide habitat for the many species which have co-evolved over millennia. Retaining endemic species is, again, a simple but effective way of lessening the global epidemic of biodiversity loss, which at current rates will be worse than the ‘Great Dying’ of 65 million years ago.

I note that the earlier phase of development on that Taylor Street block, despite being next door to a great source of native species in the Armidale Tree Group, appears to have only planted exotic (non-native) shrubs. Such exotics not only are unsuitable habitat and food sources for many native fauna species, they also encourage population expansion of larger predators and invasive species, to the further detriment of native species and biodiversity.

Other councils not only restrict tree removal to a much greater extent, they are also much more encouraging of native plants (eg see www.casey.vic.gov.au/files/…/City-of-Casey-Naturestrip-Guidelines.pdf).

I urge the ADC to be much more proactive in reducing global warming and biodiversity loss by protecting its native vegetation and encouraging revegetation with natives.

Regards,

Marty Branagan

By: Marty Branagan