A SPROUTING SUCCESS: GROWING SHEPPARTON'S GREENERY

A sprouting success:

GROWING SHEPPARTON'S GREENERY

by Steph McNair, Greater Shepparton City Council

Located north east of Melbourne, Shepparton sits in Victoria’s picturesque countryside, surrounded by lush green pastures. But as the region’s suburbs sprawl out, it’s more important than ever to make space for urban greenery, increased canopy cover, wildlife corridors and green spaces, to create a community that can withstand the effects of climate change and become a sustainable region for years to come.

The Greater Shepparton region has a rich array of natural assets from the Goulburn and Broken Rivers to farms, orchards, bush and parkland; all loved by locals and tourists alike.

The trees that form part of the region’s urban forests are an important asset that are enjoyed by all, but sometimes overlooked. These urban trees live in the region’s parklands and reserves, along streets, in backyards, in car parks and other major land holdings, such as alongside railway lines. These trees provide shade, filter air pollution and help absorb stormwater.

As these trees serve the community, the council has served the forests, adopting its Urban Forest Strategy five years ago in 2017, with the goal to make the region vibrant and liveable with wellconnected green spaces, while reducing the impacts of climate change.

The aim of the strategy is to reduce vacant tree sites in the municipality to zero, include trees in all new infrastructure projects, improve urban forest diversity, increase the number of biodiversity links through road networks and increase canopy cover in urban areas of the region to 40 per cent.

The strategy takes into account all urban trees, including trees managed by Council and those on private properties.

A comprehensive audit conducted in 2017 determined that Greater Shepparton City Council manages approximately 37,000 trees in parks and streets throughout the municipality. Approximately 19,000 of these trees were located in Shepparton, 6,000 in Mooroopna, 4,000 in Tatura and 8,000 in other towns and locations in the region.

The audit identified 6,000 vacant tree sites in the towns of Shepparton, Mooroopna and Tatura where trees have died or been removed, with additional new sites identified, including in areas of housing development.

Greater Shepparton City Council Director Infrastructure, Gary Randhawa, said the Urban Forest Strategy plays an important role in Council’s response to the climate emergency and the health and wellbeing of the community, now and into the future.

“Improving our urban forest through tree planting not only has positive impacts on health and wellbeing, economic and environmental benefits, it is also one of the most cost effective ways we can adapt to the changing climate,” Mr Randhawa said.

PROGRESS SO FAR

Over the past five years Council has planted 6,030 additional street trees throughout Greater Shepparton as part of the Urban Forest Strategy, with approximately 1,200 trees scheduled for planting each year over the next 15 years.

A review of the canopy cover will be conducted in late 2022, with Greater Shepparton City Council’s Parks, Sport and Recreation team eager to see the results of their hard work. The canopy cover is calculated by capturing overhead images using specialised software which records the current canopy size.

Thermal imagery will then be conducted every five years which will show clearly the canopy cover increasing across the region. This data will indicate how Council is tracking toward its 40 per cent canopy cover goal and allow any adjustments to be made to the planting schedule and tree species.

GROWING PAINS

Despite the program being successful so far, it has not been without challenges and lessons learnt along the way.

Over the years there has been fine tuning of the species selected for planting based on how well the trees tolerated local conditions and how appropriate they were for the selected locations as they became established.

While most members of the community are happy to have attractive tree lined streets, Council still faces some issues with vandalism and theft of trees and wooden stakes.

Street trees and trees planted in public spaces, such as play spaces and parks, are only part of the solution. In addition to the trees planted by Council, community members are also encouraged to plant trees on their own properties, contributing to the canopy cover.

CANOPY COVER ADDING VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY

When the Urban Forest Strategy launched, a celebration was held which included a native tree giveaway for planting in residents’ backyards. Council’s Parks, Sport and Recreation Team repeated this giveaway at the five year milestone celebration in August 2022, in the newly completed Stage 2 of Maude Street Mall Redevelopment in Shepparton’s CBD.

The redevelopment itself has preserved as many established trees as possible and includes the planting of additional trees, in line with the goal to include trees in all new infrastructure developments.

Beyond the health and environmental benefits, urban greenery and landscaped areas are shown to improve retail activity by up to 20 per cent, delivering economic benefits to local businesses in Shepparton, Mooroopna and other shopping districts within the municipality.

There are benefits for homeowners and property investors too, with the aesthetic appeal of tree lined streets increasing the values of homes and the appeal of neighbourhoods, particularly in areas of socio-economic disadvantage.

Research conducted in Perth and Brisbane has shown strong evidence of increased house prices on streets lined with healthy, well maintained trees – with residents spending more time outside as well.

Residents can also benefit from a reduction in energy bills through strategic planting of trees, with a 10 per cent increase in deciduous tree cover providing a five to ten per cent reduction in both heating and cooling by blocking heat in summer and warming the home in winter.

“Planting and maintaining healthy trees in our urban areas can help us adapt to climate change through provision of shade, evapotranspiration and stormwater interception,” Mr Randhawa said.

ALL PART OF A BIGGER PLAN

The Urban Forest Strategy forms part of a series of broader changes Greater Shepparton City Council is making to reduce its environmental impact and prepare for the changing climate.

Council declared a Climate Emergency in March 2020 and has since developed a Climate Emergency Action Plan and a 2030 Zero Emissions Target. While changes are being made throughout the organisation, the Urban Forest Strategy is a key component of one of the four strategic priorities identified in the action plan – Building a Climate Resilient Community.

The priority includes plans to reduce urban heat for the health and wellbeing of the community, which urban forest aids through reducing the Urban Heat Island Effect.

This occurs when the natural environment is replaced with hard surfaces such as buildings, footpaths and roads which absorb heat.

Increasing canopy cover can reduce this effect and is becoming an important consideration as temperatures rise and heat waves become longer and more frequent.

Reducing heat is just one element of what makes the Urban Forest Strategy essential, with Shepparton sowing the seeds of a sustainable community into the future.

One of the thousands of trees planted to increase canopy cover in the Shepparton region. Image: Greater Shepparton City Council.