As the clamour for action on climate change grows, engaged communities like those in the City of Port Phillip, in Melbourne’s southeast, are increasingly demanding greater canopy cover through more expansive urban forestry programs.
Urban forestry has grown in prominence in recent years, as more local councils dramatically increase the number of trees being planted across their rapidly-growing municipalities. Citywide’s Port Phillip Trees team is responsible for maintaining in excess of 46,000 trees day and night across the LGA: from iconic boulevards, residential streets and open areas to some of Melbourne’s most recognised parks and gardens.
With such a huge trees portfolio in complex environmental settings, utilising modern technology applications, the latest fleet and plant equipment plus the dedication, experience and expertise of highly skilled and trained staff ensures service delivery objectives are fulfilled for the City of Port Phillip.
And with such challenges come opportunities to successfully demonstrate capability and expertise: setting expectations and keeping on top of emerging issues and ultimately helping to shape healthy, safe, sustainable and vibrant suburbs and communities.
To help with such a large responsibility, all trees – ranging from juvenile replacement trees to heritage listed trees – are entered in a master database, with crews on site at the click of a button able to bring up the history of works done, service requests, location, age, genus and species.
In what always proves to be a highly diverse, nuanced workspace, safety is the number one priority. Only the best equipment is utilised and maintained and to ensure skillsets and capabilities are maintained, staff receive regular training and upskilling to stay a cut above the rest.
As well as the essential operational skills required for day-to-day maintenance of the assets, community engagement and stakeholder relations are another set of skills often drawn upon in such demanding, public-facing roles.
Liaising with and providing educational information for a very diverse set of stakeholders – from residents and business owners to council operations teams – is a daily occurrence to ensure the longevity of the urban forests these stakeholders count as their own.
For more information visit citywide.com.au