GEORGE NEWS - A tree management policy and a tree management committee made up of experts are in the pipeline for George.
Community services director Allen Paulse said the environmental services section will be presenting a policy to council to set out guidelines for cutting and root management, and replacing trees with suitable indigenous species.
This came in response to architect Jaap van Lille's complaint in George Herald of 7 October (p 13) about a healthy syringa that had been removed.
Van Lille proposed a strategic plan for trees in George so that the many trees lost due to the borer beetle and alien tree removal in the past few years can be replaced.
The tree management committee's members will include municipal officials, experts and knowledgeable private citizens.
About the removal of exotic trees, Paulse said in the long term, the municipality intends to replace all alien trees with suitable indigenous species "when such opportunities arise and are suitable to the circumstances".
In the case of the syringa, factors that contributed to the cutting down of the tree included signs of ongoing damage to surrounding infrastructure and the tree's alien and poisonous status.
"One suitable replacement large tree will be planted in this section (in Stockenström Street) and another elsewhere in a public open space. The space where the syringa has been removed is not large enough to sustain two mature large trees."
He said the replacement of trees is not necessarily done tree for tree, mostly due to cost constraints and areas that had been "overplanted" in the past so that there was not sufficient space between trees to allow for the full size of the mature tree.
"The municipality welcomes donations of indigenous trees for the purposes of street planting and requests that such intended donors contact Environmental Services to arrange. Trees for street planting must be of a certain species and size to ensure their survival in public environments," he said.
Contact Environmental Services on 044 802 2900.
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