Tree fern carnage

By Kath Gannaway
THE lopping of about 30 mature tree ferns by electricity distributor SP AusNet has astounded Healesville environmentalists and the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
Some of the trees “trimmed” by an SP AusNet contractor as part of the company’s bushfire mitigation work are believed to be nearly 100 years old.
The trees are on a section of Myers Creek Road between Healesville and Toolangi.
The company went into damage control last week acknowledging the “inappropriate cutting” and offering apologies as well as what are believed to be substantial offers of restitution in talks with the shire.
The company organised for an independent arborist to meet the shire’s arborist for an assessment of the ferns on Monday.
The inspection follows two weeks of intense dialogue over the issue.
In a letter to SP AusNet Healesville Environment Watch Inc chairman Steve Meacher labelled the destruction of the rough tree ferns clumsy and unnecessary.
The trees are on one of the shire’s most popular tourist roads where “aerial bundle cabling” of the powerlines has been installed.
Calling for action to offset “this appalling damage” Mr Meacher called on the company to educate its contractors on protection of native vegetation and asked for assurances that “such an outrage” couldn’t happen again.
In a letter to Mr Meacher the company said it had met the shire and was exploring offset options including electricity line relocations in environmentally sensitive areas and revegetation programs.
SP AusNnet spokeswoman Natasha Whalley told the Mail on Friday that the company was closely monitoring the trees and that action had been taken avoid a repeat.
“As soon as we were made aware of this incident we distributed an urgent alert to all cutting crews reiterating the need to protect such vegetation,” Ms Whalley said.
She said the company was also reviewing how it could tighten its training and management of contractors to minimise the chance of it happening again.
“As the local electricity distributor, we have a responsibility to comply with a number of regulatory and safety requirements to ensure the provision of reliable power supply, which oftens requires the pruning of trees,” she said.
Shire asset maintenance manager Grant Jack said the shire was deeply concerned about the damage and would undertake an investigation to determine what further action should be taken.
Ryrie Ward councillor Jeanette McRae said she was devastated by the damage and called for an urgent review of the company’s adherence to the code of practice governing bushfire mitigation work.
“I would have thought any works carried out would have recognised the sensitivity of the area and particularly with the aerial bundle cabling in that area, that there would have been opportunities under the code of practice for this to be taken into account,” she said.
Mr Meacher said no real explanation had been given as to how the trees came to be cut in the first place.
“My understanding is that the contractor involved is an experienced contractor who has trimmed before and SP AusNet seems to have no idea of why this happened,” he said.
“It seems someone just went AWOL with a chainsaw.”
He said Healesville Environment Watch was calling on the shire to be consistent in dealing with any non-compliance of the shire’s regulations.