Iconic Norfolk Island pines along Esplanade at Somerton Park ‘may be targets for poisoning’
NORFOLK Island pine trees blocking ocean views and driveways may be targets for deliberate poisoning and damage, two local councillors believe.
NORFOLK Island pine trees blocking views and driveways may be targets for deliberate poisoning and damage, some Holdfast Bay councillors believe.
Cr Rosemary Clancy told last week’s council meeting three trees planted on the Esplanade at the end of Eton Rd in Somerton Park had died and been replaced three times since originally being planted about five years ago.
“It seems like they’re being poisoned because why would they die?” Cr Clancy alleged.
Although not suggesting owners of houses whose views could be affected by the trees had any involvement, Cr Clancy noted that “they’ve always died there and not other places” along the Esplanade.
“It’s just very strange,” she said.
Nearby resident Lisa Chapman said she had not seen any vandalism of the trees.
She said it was hard to grow anything in the area.
Council chief executive Justin Lynch said there was “no proof” that the trees were deliberately killed.
Since the start of 2013, he said 17 young trees across the district had been removed after vandalism, 49 were stolen, four were hit by vehicles and two were damaged beyond repair in a storm.
He said the council had trialled “covert surveillance” to stop trees being stolen but the plan was thwarted when two of the CCTV cameras were stolen.
The trees at the end of Eton Rd were never under surveillance.
Also at last week’s meeting, Cr Mikki Bouchee contended that a 28m-tall Norfolk Island pine in Partridge St, Glenelg, was carelessly rammed into by trucks during construction of units whose driveway was partially blocked by the tree.
Councillors voted unanimously at the meeting to cut it down.
An arborist’s report said it was in poor health as a result of soil compaction from urban infill, root damage and a scar from a “major impact”.
While recognising the tree could now not be saved, Cr Bouchee blamed the developer of the unit block for letting trucks hit it during construction in 2008.
The company behind the development has since closed.
Mr Lynch said “anecdotal evidence” would suggest the damage was caused by a vehicle “but again, we have no definitive proof of this”.
He said builders were now required to install barrier fencing around trees at danger of being damaged during construction.
More than 1100 Norfolk Island pines grow in Holdfast Bay.
They often live to be 100 years old in an area where other trees can be hard to grow because of the sandy soil and salty air.