Greater Shepparton City Council Acting Director Infrastructure Michael Freeman said many people came along to the launch to learn more about how a greener Shepparton will benefit them.
“The benefits of a well-planned Urban Forest spread across the whole community,” said Mr Freeman. “More canopy cover from trees can assist with the reduction of your energy costs and can increase the value of your house. People spend more time in shopping areas that are well treed and landscaped which benefits retail businesses.”
“A well treed streetscape also looks better and importantly can reduce the impact of radiant heat during heatwaves. Having cooler shadier streets in summer also encourages people to get out and about more, which is good for your physical and mental health,” he said.
“There are other environmental benefits as well; it reduces the impact of stormwater flows and provides a green corridor and habitat for native wildlife.”
The launch is the culmination of several years of research to design and develop a Strategy relevant to the Greater Shepparton region. The Strategy was endorsed at an Ordinary Council Meeting on 18 April 2017 and has a long term implementation plan.
“In 10 to 15 years we will see the benefit for the whole community from this Strategy. It’s certainly a very exciting project for Council to be involved in. By 2037 we aim to double our green canopy cover.”
“The Strategy starts with Shepparton, Mooroopna and Tatura but may be rolled out to small towns in the future as part of the Community Plan process,” said Mr Freeman.
The Urban Forest is all urban vegetation such as Council owned street and park trees, the plants and trees in back and front yards, and the vegetation along urban waterways, in reserves and on other major landholder’s land.
Mr Freeman said the focus of an Urban Forest Strategy is deliberate planning for a greener, shadier city and providing the right trees in the right location for greater canopy cover.
The development of the Strategy involved the mapping of every street tree in Shepparton, Mooroopna and Tatura to gain an accurate record of where trees are located, missing, damaged or nearing the end of their life.
Mr Freeman said Greater Shepparton has approximately 37,000 trees in streets, parks and reserves with varied cover and an ageing tree population. Approximately 19,000 of these are in Shepparton, 6,000 are in Mooroopna, 4,000 in Tatura and 8,000 in other towns and locations.
“Trees are one of our highest valued assets yet the value of trees to the wellbeing of our community is not often thought about.”
The Strategy can be found at http://greatershepparton.com.au/council/major-projects/urban-forest-strategy
