Council's specialist team of arborists and urban foresters manages the health of 360,000 trees on public land in Casey, including:
- Roads, streets, nature strips and laneways
- Parks, gardens, and reserves
- Council land and infrastructure
- Foreshores, coasts, and bays
- The benefit of street trees
Council manages the planting, protection, maintenance, and removals of trees on public land. We manage approximately 360,000 trees throughout the City of Casey.
We are continuously leading new initiatives to improve urban greening based on The Living Melbourne: our metropolitan urban forest strategy. One vital contribution that urban greening makes is combatting climate change, by making the local area more eco-friendly. These initiatives ensure our entire municipality achieves the benefits of greener urban spaces.
Image courtesy of The Nature Conservancy Australia
Street trees provide important benefits, they:
- create shade for pedestrians and pets, and reducing surface temperatures by up to 19° C
- provide habitat for birds and other wildlife
- improve the appearance of our streets
- increase property values
- improve energy efficiency and reduce electricity usage by up to 10%
- assist with improved air quality
City of Casey’s street trees are estimated to cover 36 km2, the equivalent to approximately 7,200 beach umbrellas.
Urban Heat Island effect
An urban heat island is a metropolitan area that's a lot warmer than the rural areas surrounding it. Urban heat islands occur when cities replace natural land cover with dense concentrations of pavement, buildings, and other surfaces that absorb and retain heat. The result is that urban areas are becoming significantly warmer than the surrounding areas.
One way City of Casey are reducing the urban heat island effect is to plant native, drought-tolerant shade trees and smaller plants such as shrubs, grasses, and groundcovers in streets and open spaces.
On a national level, the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science published Trees for a Cool City: Guidelines for Optimised Tree Placement which helps councils not only understand the science behind advantageous tree plantings, but also provides guidance on large scale landscaping and tree arrangement.
You can learn more about greening your home at Greener Spaces Better Places.
- Protection of significant trees
The Casey Significant Tree Strategy incorporating the Significant Tree Register identifies the most significant trees in Casey and provides planning controls to protect these trees into the future.
There are trees and vegetation within Casey not listed on the Significant Tree Register that are protected under Planning Scheme Overlays. Planning Scheme Overlays identify important places managed by the Council, as outlined in the Planning and Environment Act 1987.
Overlays, such as the Heritage Overlay and the Environmental Significance Overlay, protect significant trees and vegetation against removal or adverse works.
Large old trees, including dead trees, are rare and impossible to replace. They are especially important for the survival of wildlife, providing food sources, hollows, and nesting sites and have environmental, landscape and cultural heritage values in Casey.
Council currently manages the preservation and protection of approximately 1,864 significant trees, including River Red Gums, exotic trees, native trees, and the trees along City of Casey’s seven Avenues of honour.
Many significant trees in Casey are situated in parks, reserves, and roadsides, which can accommodate their height and spread. A smaller but important number of significant trees are situated on private land including residential lots.
You can find more information about how the National Trusts of Australia have collaborated to create a National Register of Significant Trees. Once trees are on the Significant Tree Register, committees in each state and territory advocate for statutory protection for all registered trees under the relevant local planning laws and promote awareness of the value of significant trees.
- Protection of trees on development sites
The long-term survival and protection of trees is important to City of Casey, as their urban environment and surroundings change. Trees identified by Council within and close to development sites, on public or private land, will need protection by property owners.
The Australian Standard for the protection of trees on development sites -AS4970-2009 details best practices for the planning and protection of existing trees while setting out guidelines for tree management. This standard ensures sufficient consideration and a uniform approach to protecting and retaining trees as part of the building development process, by setting out guidelines for the safe and ongoing integration between trees and construction within development sites.
This standard should be referenced when any information is required on trees as part of any development or construction.
If you think you might have a significant tree on your property or development site visit our Preservation and protection of significant trees webpage for more information.
For more information and planning advice visit our Planning services page. The Casey Planning Scheme is also helpful.You may also find more information on the VicPlan website. VicPlan is a tool that you can use to view, query, and create your own property reports, providing a range of planning information.
- Greening Casey
On 20 August 2024, Council endorsed Greening Casey, the new plan for how we plan, manage and grow vegetation throughout the city. This plan encompasses all trees and vegetation within our landscape, spanning both public and private realms.
Greening Casey is a key component of the overarching Environmental Strategy. It also functions in conjunction with Casey’s Biodiversity Strategy, ensuring that local flora and fauna are protected and nurtured. Additionally, it complements Casey's Climate Action Plan and Climate Resilient Casey Plan by contributing to the mitigation of climate change impacts and promoting sustainability within the community.
Greening Casey outlines Council’s commitment to enhancing our urban forest management in the public realm and encouraging responsible stewardship of trees and vegetation on private properties by our community members and developers.There are five action and implementation categories for Greening Casey:
- Setting our targets and tracking our progress
- Education and advocacy
- Best practice management of our trees
- Protecting trees in the private realm
- Advocacy and best practice for trees in future developments and subdivisions.