Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS) recently commenced its spring tree planting program that will see 605 trees planted across the ACT as part of its ongoing commitment to the management of Canberra’s world-renowned urban forest.
Urban Treescapes Manager, Michael Brice acknowledged the importance of urbans trees to Canberrans and their role in improving the amenity of the city. “The ACT Government manages one of the largest urban forests in Australia. TCCS are responsible for more than 760,000 trees on public land in residential streets, major road verges, urban parks and other open space areas throughout the city,” Mr. Brice commented “We know that Canberrans value their urban trees so it is important that we continue to protect and increase our urban forest for the enjoyment of our residents and visitors. We are committed to enhancing the landscape setting of the city and ensuring there is a safe and sustainable urban forest for future generations to enjoy”.

Mr. Brice explained that this year’s spring tree planting program involves the planting of eucalypts, including more than 30 Brittle gums in vacant planting locations on the nature strip of Kalgoorlie Street, Fisher. In addition to eucalypts, 59 Ornamental pear trees will be planted adjacent to the bike path near John James Loop, Macgregor, along with a further 21 Casuarina trees planted nearby around the pond area, With the warmer temperatures upon us, TCCS’s tree watering program is now also underway.
“The tree watering program will see approximately 18,000 developing trees in streets and parks watered over the coming months using non-potable sourced water from Canberra’s urban lakes, with trees under three years of age in non-irrigated areas to be watered monthly from November to April,” Mr. Brice commented “Last year we implemented a new method for filling our trucks and used hand held tablets for locating trees to be watered. The new water filling method involved floating ‘fill point’ stations, which were installed in our lakes. This new system drastically reduced the time it takes to fill our watering trucks, saving time and money. This season we will be attaching water meters to the fill points so we can monitor the amount of water being drawn from the urban lakes and applied to trees.”