Murrindindi Shire spends $50,000 a year carrying out tree inspections and works to protect people and property from dangerous trees and limbs.
Murrindindi Shire Council Natural Environment and Climate Change Councillor Rebecca Bowles said trees are serious business.
“We spend some $50,000 every year carrying out proactive and emergency tree inspections and works to protect the people and property of Murrindindi Shire from falling limbs or collapsing trees,” Cr Bowles said.
“In December 2017, we adopted a formal tree risk management policy in response to a Victorian Coroner’s investigation into a death at another Council’s recreation area. The Coroner made recommendations about improving approaches to managing the risk presented by trees.
“While we have always been proactive and strategic about monitoring public hazards from trees, this policy gives us an even more rigorous structure to inspect and report on tree risks around the Shire.
“Our new system has designated areas and criteria for a proactive inspection cycle. Trees within these specified areas are allocated into an inspection cycle and assessed based on a series of criteria including likelihood of failure, likelihood of impact and consequences.
“Likelihood of Failure classifications rank how likely a tree, or part of a tree, is to cause damage or suffer total failure within the time until the next designated inspection.
“Each tree also has a Likelihood of Impact classification which is assessed by estimating the amount of time people spend in the vicinity of the tree, or section of the tree, at risk of failure … [and] the third classification looks at the consequences of that tree or section of tree failing…”
For information about managing vegetation or to make a customer request about a tree, see www.murrindindi.vic.gov.au or phone 5772 0333.
