Ambitious plans to grow Hobart's street tree canopy have received a massive boost with the planting of 20 evergreen ash trees along Hampden Road.
The planting is one of the largest street plantings the City of Hobart has carried out in more than a decade and was made possible through the incredible generosity of a Hobart philanthropist.
It is also a great accomplishment just days before National Tree Day on Sunday, July 28.
Trees planted along streets, in city parks and even in people's gardens are the lungs of Hobart, helping to filter out impurities from the air, keep the city cool in summer and improve people’s physical and mental health.
The gift of 20 street trees from a private philanthropist is both an inspiration and a call-to-action for others to help increase Hobart’s street tree canopy and create a greener, more climate resilient city.
Growing Hobart’s urban forest
The City of Hobart has ambitious plans to increase its street tree canopy by 40 per cent by 2046, but to reach that target the City needs more help from green-hearted philanthropists.
A trust has been created by Douglas and Jenny Armati that helps other philanthropists grow a fund dedicated to planting trees in Hobart’s parks, gardens and streetscapes through the Our City Canopy project.
The City also carries out an annual tree planting program, which in the past year has seen more than 110 trees planted across Hobart, including 40 trees at Garrington Park in New Town.
While the entire Hobart municipality has the highest tree canopy cover of any capital city in Australia, at 59 per cent, the tree canopy contracts significantly in urban areas.
New mapping of Hobart's tree canopy has revealed that:
- Canopy cover across Hobart’s urban areas in 2022 was 29 per cent.
- Canopy cover has declined in urban areas by 2 per cent since 2017. All of the canopy loss occurred on private land.
- The suburb of Hobart has the lowest canopy cover across the Hobart municipality at just 6.9 per cent.
- Canopy cover across inner residential areas is rapidly trending downward – canopy cover across Hobart’s inner residential areas fell by three per cent in just five years - 2017 to 2022 - from 20 per cent to 17 per cent.
- Hobart’s CBD area is the worst in terms of canopy cover – just 4 per cent of the central business zone is covered by tree canopy, despite the fact this is the area in which the highest number of workers and visitors spend time in Hobart.
Donations can be made to the Our City Canopy project at ourcitycanopy.com.au
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