Greening Our City – Urban Tree Strategy

The City of Greater Dandenong manages 55,000 street trees and a significant number of park trees. These trees form part of Greater Dandenong’s urban forest which is the sum of all urban trees in the municipality, private and public trees. The urban forest is a very valuable and influential asset for The City of Greater Dandenong as it provides a raft of interconnected environment, social and economic benefits to the community such as shade, streetscape amenity, air pollution reduction and habitat for wildlife. The street tree population alone is worth an estimated $182million. Council’s Urban Tree Strategy considers the current status, issues and opportunities for Council managed trees, namely the street and park trees of Greater Dandenong. The largest issue facing Council is that there are simply not enough street or park trees to provide the benefits needed by the community, in particular shade. Greater Dandenong’s overall tree canopy is only 9.9 per cent which is the lowest of all metro Melbourne municipalities on the eastern side of Melbourne. Planting more trees, whilst the primary objective for Council moving forward, is not as simple as digging a hole and planting a tree. Careful planning must ensure that our streetscapes contain adequate space to accommodate trees, that the right species is chosen and that ongoing maintenance and risk management is undertaken to create safe and amenable streetscapes. The existing tree population also needs careful management and planning, to ensure a healthy and attractive tree population.