Public tree removal in Tempe

A Tallow Wood (Eucalyptus microcorys) in Edwin Street Tempe to be removed.  Edwin Street has wonderfully large verges.

Marrickville Council has given notice that they intend to remove a Tallow Wood (Eucalyptus microcorys) outside number 37 Edwin Street Tempe.

Council gives the following reasons for removal –

• “Tree had a significant limb failure due to high winds & an included branch junction (poor branch attachment) & is now unsafe due to a large exposed wound & lack of structural wood to support the upper canopy.
• Many upper branches have borer damage & are also included & are susceptible to failure.”

Showing the branch that fell

Council says they will replace with another Tallow Wood (Eucalyptus microcorys) during 2013 planting season.

This tree was not included in the list of proposed street trees for removal for Tempe in the recent Tree Inventory.

The tree lost a branch leaving a large hole essentially halving the trunk. This means that the top half of the tree is not sufficiently supported & this is easy to see.  There is also a large area of visible borer damage in the upper trunk.   I will not be writing a submission.

The deadline for any written submission ends on Friday 5th April 2013 – council@marrickville.nsw.gov.au

Showing the wound where the branch where the branch failed. The hole is quite deep & leaves the upper part of the tree on an unstable base.

Showing deep borer damage in the upper trunk. You can see through a hole in the trunk if you stand in the right place.

 

Clean Up Tempe Reserve Hour a success

Members of Dera Sacha Sauda who with others, kindly donated their time today.

This was our second Clean Up Tempe Reserve Hour on Clean Up Australia Day.  I am happy to say that 33 people volunteered their help today, including a big group from Dera Sacha Sauda.  This was their first visit to Tempe Reserve & they were very welcome.

What I love to see.

Thank you to everyone who came.  I really appreciate it.  The park is looking very clean, which is always great to see.  It’s also looking very green after all this rain.

If all things go to plan we will be doing a clean up again next year.  I have found that 1-hour is a good amount of time, as no one gets exhausted, a lot gets done & it gives us all time to do other things for the remainder of the day.

Thank you also to Marrickville Council for collecting the garbage bags.

Reminder: Tempe Reserve Clean-up Hour

Just a quick reminder for those who want to come to the Tempe Reserve Clean-up Hour tomorrow, Sunday 3^rd March 2013 –

• 10am to 11am
• Park at the car park beside the Jets Sports Club & meet at the barbeque area at the end of the row of Fig trees that follow the water.  There will be signs.
• Bring some drinking water, though some will be available.

The weather report says tomorrow will have scattered showers, so it should be okay.  However, if it is raining heavily, the event will be cancelled.  We can do it at a later date.  Many thanks, Jacqueline

A map – so we can find each other.

Tree vandalism in Tempe

The orange area shows where the tree was stripped of dark rough bark. The poor tree has hundreds of chips into its bark as a result. The Princes Highway is at the top of the street.

Last month a lovely Gum tree in Park Road Tempe had all of its bark deliberately chipped off by a man who, when questioned by irate residents, said the tree had cancer.  Whether this is what he actually believed or whether he was just trying to fob them off, who knows.  The residents were very upset & I am told that both Council & the police were informed.

Local residents had nurtured this tree over the past couple of decades.  They planted other trees to help block dust & the noise of trains & traffic of nearby Princes Highway.

Tree knowledgeable friends have said there is a good chance the tree will survive, despite what it has suffered.  I hope they are right. If it doesn’t, I hope Marrickville Council will replace this tree with something that has the potential to reach the same height & is as beneficial to wildlife.  I know the community would appreciate this as well.

It is a beautiful tree of considerable height. The goods train line is behind the green wall.

Outside the Salvos Store gets a facelift

New verge garden outside the Salvos Store in Tempe

I saw great work by Marrickville Council today.  They have done extensive work planting the large verge outside the Salvos Store in Bellevue Street Tempe & it looks wonderful.

This large verge has historically been a place where people dump anything & everything.  It often looked very ugly & was something that caused many problems for the store itself.

I was particularly impressed with the use of coir logs to stop erosion as these not only look nice, but will also send a clear message that this area is cared for.  Hopefully, the community will see that the verge is now a garden & will respect it by not leaving their donations or rubbish in this location.

Here is a fuller view. The other side of the entrance gate has also been planted with native plants.

Street trees of Richardsons Crescent Tempe

Richardsons Crescent – before

In October 2011, much to my delight, Marrickville Council planted 10 Gordonias on the rail overpass at Richardsons Crescent in Tempe.  Within a couple of weeks 4 of these trees had been vandalized by someone keen to keep the status quo.

In May 2012 Marrickville Council returned & replaced the vandalized trees adding another tree to the row.  I held my breath wondering whether the vandal would strike again?  Luckily for the community she/he/they did not.

Unfortunately some of the trees did not do well. Today I drove past & saw that a clean sweep has been made of the non-survivors & it looks to be more than half of them.

For a range of reasons it is hard for our urban forest to be replaced. The new saplings die from a lack of watering or they are ripped out, tromped on, snapped off, even dowsed with petrol & set alight, the wind gets them or they simply fail to thrive.  I find it sad.

Richardsons Crescent – after

Proposed street tree removal in Tempe

If I am correct, on the right is the Ficus benjamina is to be removed from Edgar Street.

At the Council Meeting of the 20th November 2012 Marrickville Council sought permission to chop down 1,590 street trees that were dead, dying or nearing their Safe Useful Life Expectancy as identified by the recently completed Tree Inventory.

Because of the large number of proposed tree removals I am listing the locations of the trees suburb by suburb.

For a background, including a link to a summary of the recently completed Tree Inventory & a list of the –

• 221 street trees up for removal in Dulwich Hill see – http://bit.ly/Ulqmbn
• 56 street trees up for removal in Camperdown see – http://bit.ly/VVVkI2
• 494 street trees up for removal in Marrickville see - http://bit.ly/TO8ecK

Most of the trees to be removed in the list supplied by Council are grouped in suburbs, but many others are scattered around the document.  I have tried my best to find all the trees & have listed the streets in alphabetical order for easier viewing.  Although I have checked, there are bound to be mistakes.  The original document can be downloaded here -  http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/BridgeDownload/ITEM+21+ATTACHMENT+2+-+EXTRACT+FROM+STREET+TREE+INVENTORY+PREPARED+BY+HOMEWOOD+CONSULTING.PDF?s=2120557471,docID=78893.12

For brevity I have not included the species or the height of the trees to be removed.  This information, plus more can be found in the above document.  I have listed the street, followed by the house number the tree is nearest, finishing with the total number of street trees to be removed from that street in bold.  At some addresses, more than one street tree will be removed.  These are in brackets.

For the suburb of Tempe the following street trees are proposed for removal –

• Belmore Street: Railway Lands (x 2 trees) – 2 trees
• Bridge Street:  7, 22 (x 2 trees), 95 – 4 trees
• Collins Street:  17 – 1 tree
• Edgar Street:  15 – 1 tree
• Edwin Street:  11 – 1 tree
• Foreman Street:  48 (x 3 trees) – 3 trees
• Hillcrest Street:  1, 12 – 2 trees
• Leslie Street:  1 – 1 tree
• Lymerston Street:  21, 37 – 2 trees
• Princes Highway:  699, 709 – 2 trees
• Samuel Street:  32, 35, 78, 84 – 4 trees
• Smith Street:  26 – 1 tree
• Stanley Street:  8 – 1 tree
• Terry Street: 32, 45, 118A – 3 trees
• Toyer Street:  119 – 1 tree
• Tramway Street:  404 – 1 tree
• Unwins Bridge Road:  57 – 1 tree

TOTAL: 31 STREET TREES UP FOR REMOVAL IN TEMPE  

 

Fires at Tempe Reserve

Quite a large area was burnt

There were two largish fires lit at Tempe Reserve during the day of Friday 2^nd November.   Five Fire Engines responded & put the fires out.  Without the prompt phone calls for help & the attendance by the Fire Brigades, this could have been a major disaster.  It could have also been life threatening as apparently seven school groups were using the netball courts close by.

We saw evidence of two smaller fires that did not spread, making four fires in total.  It is a miracle that more of the reserve was not burnt; especially as it is bone dry there at the moment.

The ground is deep in woodchip & was still smoldering in one place.  Stamping on it & drenching with water managed to put it out, but there was steaming when we left.  It stinks.

It could have been much worse.  Hopefully this was a one-off.

Smelly charred landscape

Does this happen in your park?

Showing some of the mess.  The Ibis were not amongst the litter, but came to greet us, which is why they are in the photo.

We were greeted by yet another awful scene in Tempe Reserve yesterday.  The area around the picnic kiosks was strewn with an enormous amount of rubbish.  No people around, just garbage everywhere.

Large aluminum serving trays with food still stuck on them lay on the lawn, surrounded by many serviettes, bits of plastic, cups, plastic spoons & small & large plastic bags.   Some of the garbage appeared to have been tossed into the Cooks River Valley Garden.

It took me a good 20-minutes to clean it up & I didn’t get all the rubbish. There was enough room in the many garbage bins for it to fit, all except for two cardboard boxes.

All this garbage would have been pushed downhill & into the Cooks River if left as it was & would create much suffering to marine & bird life both in the river & out in Botany Bay.  It is beyond my comprehension how the people who created it could walk away leaving this behind, but they did.

Last March 55 members of the community did a clean up of the litter in the western side of Tempe Reserve & the point.  See – http://bit.ly/xgDAtN  Many said they would be happy to do this a couple of times a year.

I wrote a post about the second cleanup a while ago, but keep delaying posting it.  Why?  Because I have strong reservations asking the community to join me in cleaning up Tempe Reserve when there is more than a 50% chance that the park will be left in this state the following weekend.  It’s a futile act, like spitting in the wind.  I’m thinking that it would be better to ask people to be involved in something where their effort is not destroyed within a matter of days – or weeks if I am to be generous.

It is so sad & disappointing watching a park deteriorate because of people who use & abuse without concern for the wildlife or the rest of the community.

Twenty bottles & a cigarette packet

Scattered all over the huge area of playing fields at Tempe Reserve are plastic drinking bottles left behind by players after the game has finished. This happens after every game.

Twenty bottles & a cigarette packet – this is only one pile of plastic drink bottles left on the side of one field on the playing fields of Tempe Reserve.  There were many other plastic bottles strewn elsewhere on the playing fields & this happens all the time.  What is it with this park that people trash it so much?

The plastic bag that contained one of the players uniform was being blown towards the Alexandra Canal only metres away.

I even chased a massive plastic bag rolling across the playing fields that had contained the uniform of one of the players.    Within 3 minutes at the most, this bag would have been in the Alexandra Canal starting a journey of destruction.

I don’t understand why the players do this. I also don’t think it is the job of Marrickville Council staff to pick up the vast amounts of litter left behind after each game – unless of course, this service comes as part of the hiring fees – which I doubt.

Next stop on our bike ride was Mackey Park, which is always left spotless by the clubs.  Mackey Park gets just as much use by the clubs as do the playing fields of Tempe Reserve.

As fate would have it, I crossed paths with one of the managers of the Canterbury & Western Suburbs Cricket Association.  He kindly answered a number of my questions telling me that the Club ensures that all the Club Secretaries & the Captains know to tell all players (7yrs – adult) that they must clean up after themselves & leave no litter behind.  Leaving a mess behind may affect the Club’s ability to hire the park in the future.  Cleaning up after oneself is seen as mandatory for being a member & the Clubs reinforce this message with their players often.

I commend the Canterbury & Western Suburbs Cricket Association for this as they leave the park spotless for the community & for the wildlife that use Mackey Park.

The soccer clubs that use Mackey Park at nights & on weekends do not leave litter behind either.  So what is happening with the Clubs that use Tempe Reserve?

It’s a terrible message to give young people that they can simply leave their garbage behind when it has such a negative impact on the environment, especially with the river so close.  The players need to respect the park & use one of the numerous garbage bins provided by Council or take their garbage home.

Maybe Marrickville Council should think about intervening.  One idea is to oblige clubs to read out a short message about respect to the environment to players before each game & the Captains required to ensure all litter is removed before anyone leaves.

This was Mackey Park today just as the cricket players were leaving. Zero litter was left behind.

This is what we all should be doing with the environment – sporting clubs included.  I can’t credit the photo as I don’t know its source.