By Adam Carey
On the side of a gravel road in rolling farmland just beyond Melbourne’s urban fringe, 57 native saplings have been sprayed with white paint, marking them for imminent removal.
The juvenile indigenous trees are to be uprooted within days after Nillumbik Shire Council accused farmer and landscape architect Sarah Hunter of illegally planting them on council land.
Landscape architect Sarah Hunter with some of the saplings she planted in a council-owned roadside in rural Doreen.Credit: Justin McManus
Officers for Nillumbik, which brands itself Melbourne’s “green wedge shire”, have ordered the removal of the saplings, which Hunter planted in an area that the council has designated as a “biolink” that is important in supporting diverse birdlife, and a prime candidate for revegetation.
The saplings targeted for removal have been planted in a road reserve just outside the small egg farm that Hunter owns with her husband in peri-urban Doreen.
Hunter said she planted the saplings late last year to support local wildlife, and to beautify the farming area. The road corridor, which is lined with hundreds of mature yellow box eucalyptus trees, is a haven for wombats, echidnas and dozens of native bird species.
“I’m proud of where I live, I love where I live, and I want it to be as beautiful as possible for the animals and birds that live there as well,” she said.
But Hunter neglected to get a permit for her plantings, and the council has given her a deadline of April 30 to remove them all, or it will do so. Hunter says her act of guerilla gardening was an unintended oversight, and that she proposed to apply for a permit after officers told her she had breached a local law.
She intends to disregard this week’s deadline.
“I won’t remove them because they’ll just die if I remove them,” Hunter says. “It’s just a brutal thing to do, to plant something and then go and remove it. If they remove them, then that’s on them. But I’m not going to do that destruction.”
The council argues that the saplings are a fire risk and would interfere with its road-mowing regime.
“While the trees in Middle Hut Road may have been planted with good intent, they have been planted on council-owned road reserve and without council approval,” a council spokesperson said. “This is unfortunately illegal and hinders council’s ability to undertake crucial fire management and fire-mitigation works.”
A sapling that has been sprayed with white paint signalling for removal. Credit: Justin McManus
The trees are mostly a mix of blackwood, black wattle, silver wattle and hakeas. Hunter said she chose these species because they feature on the Australian Plants Society’s advisory list of fire-retardant and fire-resistant Victorian plants.
The Age asked Nillumbik council how many times in the past year it had ordered someone to remove vegetation from a road reserve or nature strip, but did not receive an answer.
“Nillumbik Council is committed to protecting and enhancing the shire’s biodiversity and environment in a safe and appropriate way that benefits the whole of the community, while continuing to mitigate associated risks wherever possible,” the council spokesperson said.
The council said Nillumbik hosts tree-planting events every year and encourages residents to get involved. More than 90 per cent of the shire sits within Melbourne’s green wedge zones.
The council has also set a 10-year target to increase the extent and connectivity of native habitat across the shire. Its biodiversity strategy also sets a target that 70 per cent of residents care for nature by 2034.
Elizabeth Doig, secretary of the Nillumbik Climate Action Team, said that it was important for the council to be able to manage fire risk, but said it was concerning that the council would remove native trees in a biodiversity and climate crisis.
“It seems to me that it makes sense for residents to be able to plant up their nature strips with vegetation,” Doig said.
“Certainly in view of the fact that it’s in a significant wildlife corridor and clearly in an important part of the shire in terms of the growth of indigenous vegetation to create that wildlife corridor.”
A 2013 map for Nillumbik includes the road outside Hunter’s farm as a “stepping stone corridor” for birdlife.
The council map states: “It plays a role in the maintenance of bird diversity in the surrounding area with potential for greatly increased importance through restoration, revegetation and protection of old trees.”
Hunter, who unsuccessfully ran for council last year, has produced a series of guidelines for nature-strip and road-verge plantings in Nillumbik.
The guidelines, which have not been adopted by the council, propose replacing the requirement for permits with guidelines.
“Nature strips represent a largely untapped opportunity for biodiversity and nature,” Hunter’s proposed guidelines state. “Currently many planted are problematic as they are in breach of local law.”
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.