Mentoring program to help retain healthy urban forest

Residents intending to redevelop their land and who would like to keep some of the existing trees can now access personalised support through the City of Stirling’s new Tree-Friendly Development mentoring program.

The City knows that residential development is a leading cause of tree removal and declining canopy cover across the city, due to pre-development clearing having become the norm.

The 2018 Urban Forrest Plan outlines the City’s commitment to increasing canopy cover from 12.6 per cent average to 18 per cent by 2040 by engaging the community, planting and retaining more tress, and maximising canopy growth and benefits.

The mentoring program hopes to show that removal of existing trees is not always necessary and developing around them instead is possible with some planning and consideration.

A range of experts from across the development industry including architects, builders, planners and arborist will be available to provide one-on-one advice to developers to help them design and deliver a tree-friendly development while realising the development potential of their land.

The Tree-Friendly Development program consists of three elements.

1. A two-hour workshop introducing the concept of retaining trees while developing and inspiration from a range of case studies from around Perth (previously held on Saturday 19 June 2021)
2. A five-hour Master Class covering individual site analysis, identification of opportunities and constraints, design options, building techniques and materials, planning regulation and more (to be held on 17 July 2021)
3. The mentoring service - participants will have access to a panel of experts to provide them with personalised advice and guidance as they navigate through the development process with their chosen builder.

Mayor Mark Irwin said the mentoring program would be yet another branch of an extensive commitment to renewable energy, emissions reduction, conservation, urban forest development and community planting.

“The City of Stirling has a diverse canopy of trees which cools our City, as well as providing habitat for wildlife, creating attractive leafy, green streets and maintaining liveability as our climate changes,” he said.

“This is an exciting opportunity for City of Stirling landowners looking to break away from the business-as-usual approach to development.

“I recently joined teachers, students and parents from Perth College who participated in a morning planting session to complete the extensive works at the Inglewood Triangle, and I was excited to see the children not only learning about the importance of trees from our environmental education staff but also actively participating in planting.”

“While our engagement with schools continues, this mentoring program will provide tailored support to ratepaying mums and dads to come up with a plan to keep important trees on their property as they make plans to redevelop the family home here in the City.”
 
Master Class Information

Join leading sustainability educator, Chris Ferreira and a team of tree-friendly development experts to brainstorm development options for your land - all while keeping your existing trees.

This is a unique opportunity to seek free advice from development industry experts which would normally cost hundreds of dollars.

The team of experts on-hand to provide personalised advice and create development concepts suited to your unique situation and desired outcomes will include:

• Town planners – how land zoning affects your development options
• Architects - designing your development with tree retention in mind
• Builders - building your development around existing trees
• Arborists - principles of retaining trees during development
• Green developers – lessons learnt from previous projects and how you can benefit from their experience.

You will leave this session with personalised plans for how your land could be developed, whether for your dream home or an investment property, while still keeping the mature trees on site.

Where: Stirling Community Centre – Scarborough Beach (next to the Scarborough Beach Pool)
When: 9.00am – 2.00pm, Saturday 17 July
Registrations essential:  www.eventbrite.com.au/e/tree-friendly-development-master-class-tickets-160896552921
 
Background
Together with the City’s plan to reduce emissions by 70 per cent and achieve 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030 in order to reach net zero by 2050, this new mentoring program joins a long list of activities the City funds to support a sustainable and liveable environment.

The City of Stirling annually allocates over $1.5 million to tree planting which is understood to be one of the highest investments in the sector, and over the past two years has provided 2000 free trees each year as part of the always sold-out plant and tree giveaways.

The City also looks after streets, parks and natural areas by planting 10,000 trees per year, and is committed to expanding the community tree planning giveaways to 3000 annually.