By Eleanor Wilson
A Berwick resident has expressed confusion after two dozen “seemingly healthy” trees were cut down and replaced with saplings near her home in Berwick.
The Poplar x Canadensis trees, which are part of the Beaconsfield Avenue of Honour, run along the service road on Berwick’s High Street near Akoonah Park .
They were planted more than 80 years ago to commemorate the contribution and sacrifices made by local volunteers in World War I and other wars that followed.
City of Casey’s acting manager of city presentation Andrea Szymanski said the 26 trees were “reaching the end of their useful lives”.
“Individual tree assessments on this avenue identified that many of the trees were in poor or declining condition and health, indicating a need for a tree succession plan,” she said.
“We actively planned for the renewal by propagating new trees from cuttings from the original avenue trees in 2015. These cuttings are now between four and five metres in height.
“A heritage overlay is applicable to these trees and a planning permit was approved for the removal of the old trees.”
But Berwick resident Nicola Charles said the assertion that the trees had a span of usefulness was “ridiculous”.
“I don’t know what constitutes a tree reaching the end of its useful life, I find that very odd,” she said.
“Surely a tree’s ultimate use is to provide oxygen, provide shade and contribute to the overall beauty of the area, they were doing all of those things as far as I’m aware…how do they cease to be useful?
“I grew up in the English countryside with trees that were 200, 300 years old…healthy trees don’t have an end of life.
Ms Charles said she watched the trees being cut down and replaced with saplings on the weekend of 5 November.
She questioned the council’s claim that the trees were declining in health.
“They didn’t appear to be diseased, they didn’t have any rot, they weren’t even dropping branches.”
Ms Szymanski said council developed a staged removal and replacement plan for the trees with the Avenue of Honour.
“This plan was executed in three phases between 2019 and 2022. Phase one saw the replacement of 32 trees in the avenue. Phase two involved the replacement of another 35 trees, and a further 26 were replaced in phase three in November 2022,” she said.
Council actively consulted and collaborated with the Berwick RSL, Beaconsfield Progress Association and the general public to ensure this significant site remains as a living memorial into the future, Ms Szymanski said.
Ms Charles, who lives near the removal location, said she was not notified of the tree removal or replacement.
