ANOTHER Norfolk Island Hibiscus, or itchy bomb tree, is set to be removed from a central Portland nature strip, with some residents concerned about the impact on the local koala population.
Glenelg Shire Council sent a letter last week to nearby residents informing them that the large tree opposite the IGA supermarket on Percy Street was slated for removal.
“This street tree needs to be removed as it is structurally compromised,” a council spokesperson told The Observer, when asked to confirm the
“As this tree is in a very high traffic area, the safety of the public is paramount.”
It follows eight of the same species being cut down for the same reason along Otway Street last month, which council said would be replaced later in 2023 with ornamental pears.
Council said tree assessments are an “ongoing process across the Shire”, but did not respond to questions on whether there is a strategy for ensuring that the local koala population has trees available for safe passage through town, or what the process is for addressing residents’ concerns about the tree removals.
While koalas do not appear to eat the leaves of the itchy bomb trees, they have been regularly sighted in them around town.
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) are the relevant authority for wildlife protection in Victoria, and are currently overdue in producing a new Victorian Koala Management Strategy, which was supposed to be released in August.
“Koalas frequently come into contact with human society, usually to the detriment of the Koalas,” says the current strategy, which was written in 2004.
Percy Street business owner Linda Carmody said she was worried for the koala population if mature street trees continue to be removed.
“I think it’s pretty simple, they need the trees, so council should not be cutting them down,” she said.
Ms Carmody does not believe that the promise of new ornamental pears is a suitable like-for-like replacement in terms of their service as ‘safe haven’ habitat for koalas moving through Portland.
Noting that that council’s previous attempts at putting in native bottlebrush trees have not been successful, she suggested that Council try other natives, and plant them between trees that are established to go to allow them to mature before the old trees are felled.
