Page 340 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2019
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doubt” (Transcript, p 138); if so, (a) does the Government have an estimate of how many spaces are available and (b) what is that estimate.
(3) Did Minister Steel, on 15 November 2018, tell the Standing Committee on Environment and Transport and City Services that “We are currently sitting at around 20 percent canopy across the city, and the better suburbs statement recommended that we should move to 30 percent” (Transcript, p 139); if so, what is the “percent canopy” figure a percentage of, for example, Government-owned urban land.
(4) By what method is the “percent canopy” figure measured, for example, use of light detection and ranging.
(5) How frequently is the “percent canopy” figure measured, for example, one-off basis, annually etc.
(6) Is the “percent canopy” data available geographically, for example, in a geographic information system, or only as an overall estimate for the whole city.
(7) What is the exact figure for the whole urban area for the latest data available.
(8) If the data is easily available, can the Minister also provide a breakdown by suburb and district.
(9) Is the “percent canopy” figure believed to be in decline, stable or growing.
(10) Does the Government have access to data which is or could be used to measure the canopy cover on privately-owned urban land in the ACT; if so, (a) what is that data and (b) does the Government have an estimate of how many additional trees would be required to achieve a 30% target; if so, what is that estimate.
Mr Steel: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) Yes. The rate of decline of public trees is estimated at approximately 3000 trees (mature trees removed and juvenile trees that have either died or are missing) per year based on 2017-18 data. This rate is subject to a range of influences including climate, species and age characteristics.
(2) No current estimates are available. The most recent audit in 2010-2012 identified approximately 22,000 vacant street tree sites to be prioritised for planting and 17,300 dead trees in streets and parks that required removal and replacement.
(3) Yes. The ‘around 20%’ figure is taken from the LiDAR data that indicates that tree canopy covers 19.18% of all developed land (residential, commercial, urban open space, road reserves).
(4) The “percent canopy” figure was measured using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) remote sensing methods.
(5) The LiDAR was captured as a one-off.
(6) Tree canopy cover data is available for most but not all of the ACT’s urban area (the 2015 Lidar coverage did not include all of Canberra).
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