Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 2:41 PM
Subject: Tree Assessment on private property - published also in public forum
Mayor Cr Ron Clarke
Please take this matter on board and to the relevant department ... and investigate what I see as an issue concerning the Council's assessment of
private trees. Please advise me of the outcome.
The Issue:-
Where trees are protected by GCCC and the owner wants to either prune or remove the tree the current procedure is for the owner to send paperwork to GCCC. Then the council visit and make assessment on the tree and pass recommendations which may or may not include removal/pruning etc (totally free by the way).
The issue is clear,
why has the council taken on this task? In every other area I work in the councils specify a report from a suitably qualified arborist be submitted detailing the trees conditions (an assessment) and management options along with recommendations. This is an area people like me trained and educated for. However
the GCCC has blanketly taken this consultative task from the private sector.
Furthermore, it also has been scrutinized by fellow arborists that more trees than necessary may have been removed as the council "err's" on the side of caution. In addition the trees/owners may have limited specifications of work proposed based on judgments other than the trees assessments ... for example, we couldn't expect pensioner Smith to pay for root barrier and cabling when it would be cheaper to remove the tree. This are real scenarios.
Finally, and correct me if I am wrong. But I believe the GCCC is self insured and not part of the larger insurance pool used by over 100 councils Australia wide. If this is the case it means they are unable to draw upon the pool of legal knowledge and experience pertaining to failed trees that were declined removal. That situation may in turn be fueling your tree assessment officers into removing more trees than justifiably necessary.
In other councils we assess trees and write reports, the council officers read the reports and can call us to discuss issues or even ask for further detail. This then alleviates lots of field calls and shifts some liability away from council to the owner/contractor. It also allows us to earn a living to pay rates, offer more than a chainsaw service, educate more customers in tree health care and
prevent non tree owners from subsidizing tree works/assessments when they don't own any (all those hi-rise and unit owners!) I sincerely would like a reply and investigation into the management of trees on
private land.
I have also publicly published this email on a well respected forum and encourage interaction from officers there if they like, it is free and open, it's when we work together that we achieve most. The forum is
www.treeworld.info
Kindest regards
Eric Frei
Dip Hort Cert III Arb + some
Brisbane Palm and Tree Services - Qualified Tree Lopping We are all about trees - qualified tree care professionals in Brisbane www.treeworld.info