By Renee Wood
Warburton residents are devastated after a Yarra Ranges Contractor wrongly cut down a tree at the Warburton Recreation Reserve.
Contractors were sent to the site on Wednesday 29 September to remove a tree that was identified as ‘dangerous’ however, an error was made and another tree in the vicinity was felled.
Director of Environment and Infrastructure, Mark Varmalis, said a photo was supplied showing a campervan near the identified tree.
“However, In the time between contacting the contractor and their arrival on site, the van had moved and a non-dangerous tree – a large eucalypt – was mistakenly removed,” Mark Varmalis said.
“Tags that had been placed on the tree required for removal had somehow been removed and later found on the ground nearby.”
Warburton resident Katie Amos witnessed the large eculyptus being felled and is disappointed with how an error like this slipped through.
“There should have been a way with a permanent marker, something that wasn’t going to come off in the weather or with possum or whatever else to have been able to identify the correct tree,” Ms Asmos said.
“Whatever the checks and balances were supposed to have been done, they obviously didn’t happen. They [council] need to improve their processes.”
Warburton Environment Vice President Karina Doughty spoke to a nearby resident who raised questions on site at the time.
“The women who lives next to these trees knew which tree was ‘unsafe’ and was to be removed, but the contractors did not listen to her and made their own assumptions,” Karina Doughty said.
The council said they were contacted by the feller when they realised the error after work had started on the tree.
“Once the contractor realised the error, they immediately contacted Council and were quite devastated over their error. The contractor has not charged the Council for the work that occurred in error,” Mr Varvalis said.
When council staff arrived, the tree was too far gone and directed for the removal to continue as it had no remaining environmental value.
The tree is expected to have been an asset to the community and local wildlife standing at approximately 35 metres tall.
The initial tree that was identified to be removed was also cut down the following day.
“There’s not as much shade as they used to be, this tree just didn’t need to come down and there’s just a lot of extra open air down there now,” Ms Amos said.
Warburton Environment group said both removals are part of a larger issue where trees aren’t valued enough.
“Too often we are seeing the removal of (or burning of) mature trees, which provide clean air, water, habitat and carbon storage, because of insufficient processes and lack of real community consultation. This happens along our roadsides, in logging coupes and during post logging and fuel reduction burns,” Ms Doughty said.
“What if we could develop processes which truly valued the immense importance of keeping these significant trees, our life support, in the ground.”
Council has apologised for the incident.
“This is an extremely rare occurrence for the Council. We sincerely apologise for the misunderstanding, in not double-checking the tree that was designated for removal, and understand the upset this has caused for some in the community,” Mr Varvalis said.
“Our team is working with our contractors to improve processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again, and we’ll be looking into replacing the trees in our planting season.”
