Darwin, Palmerston councils committed to greening streets despite dire results in national environment report

PALMERSTON and Darwin councils remain committed to a green future, following a report that they face some of the biggest challenges across the country in maintaining green canopy coverage.

• Where will all the trees be: Top End towns face struggle on maintaining canopy cover

PALMERSTON and Darwin councils remain committed to a green future, following a report that they face some of the biggest challenges across the country in maintaining green canopy coverage.

In response to the Green Spaces Better Places Report, a Palmerston council spokeswoman said in the past year the council had committed to a greener future with a number of initiatives underway.

“In the 2019/20 financial year, council planted 625 new trees and will have planted an additional 396 trees across Palmerston prior to Christmas 2020,” she said.

City of Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis plants the first tree part of the Darwin CBD beautiful project in June. Picture: Che Chorley

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“The Verge Improvement Grants have been successful with over 320 residents receiving top soil and grass seeds from council to beautify their verges.”

Palmerston Council looks set to sustain the programs that will be included in the new City Sustainability Strategy, due to be released next year.

Darwin Council Engineering and City Services general manager Ron Grinsell said the council was aware of the ongoing challenges in addressing canopy and continued to explore more greening measures.

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“Darwin is concerned with the numbers in the report but we are not surprised as we map our urban forest, including our canopy cover, in detail on an ongoing basis,” he said.

“Darwin experiences ‘very high challenges to maintain or grow green cover’ – we are abundantly aware of this challenge.”