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Vegetation greater than 3 metres that provide permanent reliable shade and recognised flora communities.
The City aims to increase its urban forest tree canopy cover by planting 1200 street trees per year. This represents 1% growth from baseline per annum in urban street trees planted in the City of Swan.
Trees provide many environmental, economic and social benefits. Urban forestry best practice among local governments across Australia, independent research and the State Government document Urban Forest of Perth and Peel (WAPC, 2014) all identify the numerous benefits trees have in urban areas.
Key benefits arising from sufficient canopy trees and other vegetation are summarised in the table below.
An urban forest comprises of trees and other vegetation within urban areas of the City.
This encompasses vegetation within any streetscape, river and creek embankment, bushland, wetland, park and transport corridor. It also includes trees and vegetation within private properties such as backyards, front setbacks (verges), rooftops and vertical gardens.
The verge is the area between the edge of the road and the private property boundary. Verges are owned by the Crown (State Government) and management is vested to the City. Verges provide a buffer between the road and private property where essential services and public infrastructure may be located.
The verge width varies from property to property. The City’s online mapping tool can assist residents in locating their private property boundaries.
Yes! Every resident of the City of Swan is eligible to request a free street tree for their verge once a year. To make a request, head over to the City’s Free Street Trees page.
Yes! Perth NRM have developed an innovative web resource called ReWild Perth to help people plan, create and record native gardens specifically tailored to their outdoor spaces. By inputting your suburb and size of your garden size, the web resource provides you with different actions on how you can contribute to the urban forest. Click the below link for more information.
