Page 1791 - Week 06 - Thursday, 30 July 2020
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Answers to questions
Municipal services—tree management
(Question No 2075—revised response)
Ms Le Couteur asked the Minister for City Services, upon notice, on 30 November 2018:
(1) Given that on page 45 of the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate Annual Report it says that the Minister has over 768 000 trees to manage, but only planted 1 450 replacement street trees, is the tree stock in existing suburbs declining; if so, by how many a year.
(2) Did Mr Alegria, on 15 November 2018, tell the Standing Committee on Environment and Transport and City Services that “We have spaces available to fill for planting, no 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) No. In 2017-18, 1,117 established trees in existing suburbs were removed due to end of life decline or death of the tree and 1,450 new trees were planted. This will provide a net increase in tree canopy once the replacement trees reach maturity, helping to address the urban heat island effect identified in the 2017 CSIRO report “Mapping surface urban heat in Canberra”.
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