By Tania Martin
Dandenongs. 37205
OLINDA nurseryman Jeremy Francis fears the growing number of gum trees in the Dandenongs could lead to a catastrophic fire disaster.
He is calling for the Shire of Yarra Ranges to rethink its vegetation controls.
Mr Francis believes the first step would be to map the number of eucalypt trees in the region.
He recently called for action at a Dandenong Ranges Community Bushfire Group (DRCBG) meeting last month (21 September).
Mr Francis believes the council needs to re-educate people on the types of trees and vegetation that are the safest in the event of a fire.
Mayor Len Cox questioned why people come to live in the region if they want to get rid of the trees.
But Mr Francis said research showed that eucalypt trees were the most unstable.
“Sadly gum trees are pretty dangerous with the foliage consists of four per cent volatile oil,” he said.
“I know it’s a really un-Australian thing to say but we need to think hard how and where we plant eucalypt trees.”
Mr Francis said other safer options would be big leafed deciduous trees ,which pose a one per cent risk and wattles, a 0.1 per cent risk.
He said educating people was vital in the bid to stop a cataclysmic fire storm on Crown land in the hills.
Mr Francis said lists of low risk vegetation and trees were readily available in other parts of Australia but not locally.
“There needs to be a change in culture…we all live here because we love the trees,” he said.
“We need a panel of people to advise us on the best way of reducing and eliminating crown fires, how to think about vegetation keeping in mind the science.
Mr Francis believes the Dandenongs is facing a disaster on the scale of last week’s tsunami in Samoa if nothing is done to address the problem.
He said for two or three generations there were few gum trees in the region and no fires in that time that killed huge numbers of people.
“We have to rethink how we live in the Dandenongs with these natural changes in mind,” he said.
At the meeting last month, councillor Cox said the council had not considered the need to cull gum trees.
“I don’t know that removing all the gum trees in the Dandenongs will be the answer,” he said.
Cr Cox told the meeting he would take the issue to the council but did not think it would be seriously considered.
