An email doing the rounds pleads for people to stop cutting down trees. Included is a photograph of a line of 15 dogs queuing to lift their legs on a solitary specimen in a field. Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
It’s an amusing yet poignant reminder of the importance of trees to our environment, our health and our heritage.
The National Trust of Australia value trees and their historic and environmental contributions, and in a world first has collated a national register of 25,000 significant specimens on a dedicated new website, which will also be available as an app for a mobile device.
So whether you’re in the back of beyond, a country town, or a capital city, you can check out the significant trees in that area, from magnificent heritage icons such as the golden elm on the corner of Wellington Parade and Punt Road in Melbourne, to the Melrose red river gums in South Australia, the ghost gums in central Australia, the spectacular eucalypts around Sydney, the great trees of Queensland’s rainforests and landmark avenues of honour.
Anna Foley, senior advocate, environmental heritage, from the National Trust (Victoria), says trees are deemed significant for a number of reasons: horticultural; social; historic; aesthetic.
”They grow between skyscrapers, in suburban backyards and parks, in the main streets of regional centres, around rural towns and hamlets, and in the bush and outback,” she said.
”Volunteers around the country have contributed over 1500 person hours, including wading through rivers, to prepare the data for the website. Some states, like Victoria, have been recording significant trees for over 30 years, others are just now beginning to identify theirs.”
Dr Greg Moore, chair of the Significant Tree Committee with the National Trust (Victoria), believes the national register will have an impact as it encourages people to take an interest in their trees and to become custodians of them, especially the precious varieties.
”Over the last year in Victoria people have contacted us to warn about trees at risk, including a heritage specimen near an inner-Melbourne railway station, and some that were pruned inappropriately to make way for a supermarket extension. I’m reassured that so many people look after our precious trees.”
They can teach us a valuable lesson, he said, especially given Thursday’s repeal of the carbon tax.
”Climate change is going to have an impact, so we have to value our vegetation now. Ultimately the truth and the science comes out.
”It’s a setback when you don’t value your vegetation and your carbon, but I’m convinced it will only be temporary because realistically, if we don’t, our cities, especially, will be unliveable and unsustainable.”
