The Alpine Shire Street Tree Master Plan will support the strategic management and conservation of trees located along footpaths, on nature strips, and on public land located beside Council-managed road reserves.
What is the Street Tree Master Plan?
The Street Tree Master Plan will map all relevant street trees across Alpine Shire and outline items such as planting guidelines, replacement strategies, and targets for canopy cover across urban areas to increase shade, cooling, and public amenity.
This is a community-informed project that aims to capture:
- Strategic street tree replacement: how best to replace our ageing assets
- Planting guidelines: identifying preferred tree species and planting locations
- Canopy cover targets for urban areas: to increase shade, cooling, and public amenity
What is the background?
The significance of street trees across the region is not identified in the Alpine Shire Planning Scheme. Our Alpine Shire Planning Scheme Review 2023 identified the need for us to prepare guidelines for the planting, retention, and replacement of canopy trees.
The Review also recommended that we prepare a strategy to increase the number of canopy trees across Alpine Shire.
What is the basis?
It is no secret that Alpine Shire is renowned for its tree-lined avenues. Our street trees are integral to the identity and tourism of our region.
A high proportion of our street trees are already, or near-reaching, maturity. Trees are living assets that require strategic management and replacement to ensure neighbourhood character is preserved, while meeting public safety and sustainability objectives.
What is canopy cover and why do we need a target?
Put simply, canopy cover is the percentage of ground area shaded by trees. This means, if you have 20% canopy coverage in an area, that 20% is directly shaded by a tree canopy, with the remaining 80% being unshaded.
Adequate canopy coverage brings many benefits to urban areas, including:
- Increased shade, reducing the impact of urban heat island effect (it can feel 5 - 14 degrees cooler in the shade!)
- Local air quality improvements
- Supporting biodiversity
- Improved stormwater management
- Increased wellbeing and social benefit
- Traffic calming
Current best practice targets for urban canopy cover sit between 30% and 40%. Targets for private property are currently stipulated in the Alpine Planning Scheme. This work looks to fill the gap to provide a municipal-wide approach to canopy coverage.