Tree danger concerns

By Ed Merrison
THE Shire of Yarra Ranges has defended its policy regarding tree inspections on private property, despite claims by some residents that the council should be doing more to reduce the dangers of falling trees.
Tecoma resident John Wilson voiced his concerns about the region’s cypress trees after the Mail reported on Tuesday, 13 December that large cypress limbs had fallen into the garden of an 87-year-old Tecoma woman.
Mr Wilson said his landlord recently cleared an old cypress from his property after the trunk split in half from its fork to the ground.
“Who knows what damage it might have caused to cars parked on the street if it had fallen,” he said.
Mr Wilson said it was important to highlight the dangers of the old trees.
“We’ve got a lot of old cypress pines round here and I think they really should be checked.
“We should push for the council to do it as there are a lot of them on nature strips,” he said.
Shire manager of community relations James Martin said the council did not have figures on the number of cypress trees on nature strips, but said the number would be very low.
Shire coordinator of trees and bushland Paul Mechelen said the trees generally did not cause many problems, although older trees tended to drop branches and deteriorate.
“Once the crown is opened up to the wind, further branch failure is likely,” he said.
Mr Martin said the shire’s $50 call-out fee for tree inspection, which covers up to three trees with a $10 charge for each additional tree, was heavily subsidised by the shire.
“Each property inspection can take up to three hours of the arborist’s time. This includes travel to the property, carrying out the tree inspection and preparation of the report,” he said.
Mr Martin said it would be impossible to provide private inspections free of charge.
“Providing free tree inspections to private properties would cost the council and ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are around 56,000 properties in the shire,” he said.
Mr Martin and Mr Mechelen advised residents to monitor their trees for any sudden change in condition.
“Property owners need to be aware of the state of health of their trees in terms of whether any large cracks have developed, visible signs of disease or excessive shedding of branches,” Mr Martin said.
Mr Mechelen added that regularly checking for obvious signs such as these should save residents money on unnecessary inspections.
On the other hand, discovery of any such sign meant it was time to call in an arborist, Mr Mechelen said.