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How much is a tree worth?

5/4/2019

9 Comments

 
PictureThe blue gum tree was estimated to be at least 150 years old. Photo: Lisa Schonberg
By John Eddy

​LAST month 15 trees were removed to make way for the new transit hub in the centre of Cowes. They included a magnificent southern blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) that was probably in the order of 150 years old, perhaps older.

Most likely a remnant of the pre-settlement Island flora, it was 1.3 metres in diameter at breast height, a thing of natural beauty, and a habitat for many creatures, including a pair of kookaburras that nested in a hollow.

It was significant for cultural reasons too. The site on which it, and many of the other lost trees, grew, used to be the school yard of Cowes Primary School, and the old blue gum was fondly remembered by many locals. In recent years, the prominent tree was admired by many as they went about their daily business in Cowes.

​However, the value placed on individual trees by shire engineers and planners may be quite different from the value placed on them by many in the community, and the planners have limits in how far they are prepared to compromise their projects.
Key decisions were made amid a breakdown of communication, for whatever reason, between Council and community. It is now pointless to try to apportion blame. We need to work together towards a better outcome for our significant trees and our native vegetation in the face of future development.

​
We must nurture a continuing change in culture to see the true value of trees and their fundamental part in our lives. It is crucial to provide our children with opportunities to engage with Nature, to learn about and love the natural world.

We need to become less risk-averse, to stop regarding native vegetation as just a threat, needing to be removed when it suits us. Even dead trees have a natural value, as homes and food for many living things.

What have we learned?
  1. As a community and as individuals, we need to be more pro-active in seeking out information on planning proposals. We can't expect it to be handed down to us on a plate precisely when we need to know it. This channeling of communication should not be left just to a handful of overworked warriors in the Conservation Society.
  2. To protect our significant and venerable trees into the future, we need a Significant Tree Register for Phillip Island, probably for the whole of Bass Coast.
  3. Positive outcomes can be instigated by tragedy.  In the case of the transit hub trees, the main trunk of the blue gum was salvaged for later creation of furniture or artwork for public use/display. Some logs will be utilised at Blue Gum Reserve in Cowes, seeds have been collected for propagation for suitable revegetation projects, and the Tree Register process has been initiated.
  4. A significant part of our community will come together to honour and protect our trees, and show anger and grief at their loss.

​ John Eddy is a member of the Phillip Island Conservation Society.  This is based on an address he gave at a memorial gathering for the trees last Sunday.
Picture
Video by Terry Melvin
By Camille Monet
During the memorial, a chorus of rainbow lorikeets joined with us to sing our song ‘For the Trees’. Their habitat has been diminished, but they continue to sing together in one of the remaining gum trees near the Cowes Cultural Centre. We worry that these trees too may be lost in the future. The advocacy work on behalf of trees goes on.
   We are committed to ensuring that the community voice remains strong on this issue. Some strategies for this include supporting:
  • A comprehensive Tree Audit;
  • The development of a Significant Tree Register;
  • The establishment of an effective framework for community consultation which ensures accountability; and
  • Facilitating a series of creative and educational activities in order to deepen connection, understanding and love of the natural environment.
  The beautiful trees are community members and need to be respected. Where there is beauty, there is love. That is what community is about.

Camille Monet is a Phillip Island artist and an organiser of the tree memorial
By Anne Davie
That tree was here when the first people were here.
It was here when the first Europeans came in 1868.
It was here when my grandfather brought my mother here for her first holiday in 1912.
It was here when my mother brought me for a holiday in 1940.
It was here when I met my husband and we became part of Phillip Island in 1956.
It was here when our boys, our men, went to the First World War.  
It was here when they went to the Second World War.
It was our history … it was so beautiful … and its loss has made me incredibly sad.
​
Anne Davie is vice-president of the Phillip island Conservation Society
9 Comments
Bronwyn Dahlstrom
5/4/2019 11:16:41 am

Thanks so much for the words and photos. So many people are upset by what has happened. You have expressed my thoughts and the thoughts of so many others, so well.

Reply
Annette Wilkiinson
5/4/2019 03:47:38 pm

Loved the photos and the video

Reply
Daryl Hook
5/4/2019 10:53:19 pm

A similar thing at the Pound Creek Reserve.A giant messmate tree which has watched over Pound Creek ,sucked in carbon dioxide and emitted oxygen for us to breath ,plus our farm animals and pets.Also oxygen for our cars ,trucks,motor bikes,lawn mowers ,blowers etc.What did Thi tree do wrong?Yes it did drop a branch which smashed the TV antenna and damaged the Fire Station.For this it was severely pruned but that was not enough for sone people.Its now been cut off at ground level.
,

Reply
Ruth
7/4/2019 10:42:05 pm

We were outraged when the Council cut down the trees in Thompson Ave to provide us with the "Town Square", shadeless open space that no-one uses with $50 grands worth of largely unused bells! But the people elected to represent us took no heed. They cut down the trees behind the Council buildings to provide a car park. Some one wrote a song about that, "cut down all the trees and put them in a tree museum and charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see them.

What leadership? Why are they so disconnected? Didn't they get the message when they cut down the trees at the front that we were cross. Now they have cut down the trees at the back and I for one am even crosser. How do we get the message over to people who live far away and never visit our part of Bass Coast?

Why do we have to be constantly on guard to stop OUR council doing things that we find repulsive? Have you driven along Back Beach Road recently? The mangeling of the trees and bushes on the roadside with a slasher is just disgraceful!

This is the road that takes hundreds of thousands of international tourists to Victoria's number one Tourist Attractions - The Jewel in the Crown - that earns the State Government millions of $, a Nature Park? You have got to be on some other planet!

Reply
Jeni Jobe
8/4/2019 12:14:13 pm

Myself and my son went to the memorial organised by the lovely big hearted Camille Monet, I listened to the speakers and the singers.
We were told we must be vigilant and watch that the council is doing the right thing..... perhaps if these peaceful giant trees were given the same asset value as a pipe in the ground. The council could watch itself. Bitterly disappointed with the entire incident.

Reply
Joy Button
9/4/2019 09:01:44 am

I cannot understand why Councillors did not step in to stop the destruction of these beautiful trees. The world just needs more trees and this is appalling. The latest group of Councillors came to office promising communication and consultation but issues arising in Western Port Ward and Island Ward recently clearly show that Councillors are tired and just not interested in what issues their communities think are important. Sad ….

Reply
Doug Willmott
10/4/2019 08:11:55 am

'Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot"
Joni Mitchell

Clearly the choice was between paradise or progress.
Paradise is lost so Phillip Island needs to accept "progress" at full tilt, including a four lane divided highway all the way to Cowes Jetty and also all the way to the Penguin Parade. This will bring in masses more visitors who will need ever bigger car parks.
But just think of all the jobs and growth...!
Money will flow in an ever increasing torrent and never mind the stress of coping with the traffic and the crowds, either deal with it or leave....as I have done to a quiet rural location with no parking lots and no crowds, but lots of trees.

Reply
Sue Packham
17/4/2019 02:32:25 pm

I'm thinking along these lines too Doug.
Progress seems unstoppable - though I did help save those old eucalyptus trees along Linacre Road in Hampton a long time ago.
What we can do now is plant as many trees as our properties allow - sensibly not dangerously - to compensate for those oldies that have been sacrificed. And also read current books like 'The Hidden Life of Trees' by Peter Wohlleben, which reports on scientific discoveries describing how trees communicate, support each other by sharing nutrients with those that are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers.
And we must keep communicating our knowledge to those who have the power to decide the fate of these giant beings that have survived for centuries against incredible odds.

Reply
Doug Willmott
25/4/2019 08:17:52 am

Hi Sue yes I agree with you and I have a copy of that book 'The Hidden Life of Trees' plus various other tree books and living on a rural property have been planting native trees since I left Phillip Island and came here year ago..




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