Please note - Date Change! This is an amended version of an notice posted on 10 February.. BSFG's 'Greening Benalla - Greening and Cooling our Urban Spaces' action group invite you to attend our BSFG General Meeting at 7:30 - 9:30 pm on Thursday 14th March at the Benalla Uniting Church meeting room, opposite the Coles Car Park. This time includes a light supper at the end of the evening.
The meeting part will be brief and the main focus is our guest speaker: Andie Guerin, Environmental Consultant from the Regent Honeyeater Project The theme for Andie's talk is ideas for planting on your Nature Strip. Andie will share his knowledge on local plants that would be suitable for planting on our nature strips, and what conditions we need to consider when selecting plants. Many of these plants will be ideal for our gardens too. Background: Nature Strips Nature strips are the area of public land that lies between the boundary of private property and the road kerb. They soften and enhance the streetscape by providing a ‘green’ zone and a buffer between pedestrians and vehicles. Nature strips play a crucial role in keeping our neighbourhoods healthy and attractive. Your nature strip can be more than just grass, it can be a beautiful garden right outside your front fence. Planting up this area will also enhance habitat, increase urban biodiversity, help mitigate climate change and beautify your street. Plus reduce the time you spend mowing! While your nature strip may not appear large enough to make a difference, small areas of biodiversity can have a valuable, cumulative effect on species diversity in urbanised environments. BSFG is keen to work with our community to develop our nature strips into beautiful gardens for all of us to enjoy. Please RSVP your attendance to bsfginc@gmail.com We hope to see you there, Judy Schwarzman, Secretary, BSFG Event details: Thursday 22nd February 2024 7.30pm - 9.30pm, including supper Meeting Room, Benalla Uniting Church. Opposite the Coles Car Park In an article 'City Plants 70 new trees' in the Benalla Ensign on Wednesday 18 October, p 7, we learn of 70 newly planted nature strip trees representing "a diverse range of species, carefully selected to thrive in the local environment and coexist with roadside infrastructure".
"Among the popular species planted this year are tree species known for their resilience to pest and disease, ...Callistemon (Bottlebrush), Grevillea, Eucalyptus, Meleleuca (Paper Barks); Agonis (Willow Myrtle); Acer (Japanese Maple), Fraxinus (Ash), Ulmus (Elm) and Zelcova (Chinese Elm). ...Tree species have been carefully selected considering factors such as local conditions, climate and existing streetscape." In the article, then Benalla Rural City Council Mayor Cr Bernie Hearn emphasized the tree planting program "not only enhances the visual appeal of our streets but provides environmental benefits in providing air quality, reducing heat and providing habitat for wildlife". The Council's Rec-Less: Less Water, Less Often, More Resilient Open Spaces Project works to ensure species planted in open spaces are hardy and resilient to the effects of climate change and that these spaces are prioritised for irrigation. We've taken the liberty of incorporating links from the Rec-Less page for you here. You can download the Council's information sheet for handy tips about improving resilience in your garden as well as tables with examples of resilient species:
Many of us face choices in relation to planting hardy, resilient plants in our gardens - the varieties the Council chooses to plant, and those included in the Rec-Less information sheets provide a useful avenue to pursue in our research. Bev Lee and Peter Maddock Sources: Benalla Ensign, 'City Plants 70 new trees', Wednesday October 18, 2023 p7 Benalla Council Website 'Rec-Less: Less Water, Less Often, More Resilient Open Spaces Project' accessed 28 December 2023 Issues surrounding the need to retain, and grow, trees as essential infrastructure continue to emerge in our community. Revisiting Greg Moore's outstanding talk can provide both inspiration and fact based evidence and strategies to support efforts to continue to advocate for trees as essential infrastructure. Sue Campbell's Submission to Council re Bridge St tree (near Reject Shop) removal application20/1/2023 Sue Campbell has given us permission to include her submission on the website: BENALLA RURAL CITY 1 Bridge Street East Benalla 3672 Submission on Planning 13 November 2022 Permit No. PO 148/22 Removal of Tree 13 Bridge Street East Benalla 3672 I commend the Council for its report on the above mentioned tree by Enspec PTY My concerns for the removal of this tree include
Planting new trees will not help this situation for many years, how fortunate the citizens of this town are that a previous Council had the foresight to plan for the future; the removal of this tree would undermine the forward thinking of that enlightened council. I refer to the Consultants report on the need to remove this tree and ask the Council to engage an expert on the use of root barriers as has been carried out on numerous sites around Melbourne on much larger trees. Executive Summary - page 10 of report The results of the executive summary undertaken by Enspec Environment conclude that:- Damage to the front of the 13 Bridge Street West East, in the vicinity of the gas meter, is likely to be due to the influence of roots from the council tree. No significant roots were identified elsewhere along the frontage of the properties adjacent test area. Pruning of the identified roots, or other root management options could be undertaken to resolve the issue. I therefore request the Council to review their application to remove this tree. Susan Campbell O.A M. Landscape Architect .A.I.L.A. (address provided) 13 November 2022 In her Greening Benalla action group report in late November Sue Campbell spoke with passion and her usual well researched position about a tree in Bridge Street near the Reject Shop area for which a removal application has been instituted. The possible removal of the tree has caused Sue great concern. Her presentation raised alarm bells for members of the group. Read the Executive Summary of Sue's Submission to Benalla Rural City Council... On December 12th a thought provoking post on the Benalla Community Notice Board Facebook page by Giulia Franchesci raised her concerns ... "Hello Benalla people.... I believe we are at point if we don’t start to protect mature public shade trees, dangerous precedents are being set by Landowners and Council’s to remove any, and all, public trees that are considered “problematic”. LET’S SAVE IT!!! Over the last 40 or more years this tree has OXYGENATED, REFRESHED, SHADED and BEAUTIFED our little space on this planet. Benalla. LET’S US GIVE A THANKS BY RESISTING HIS REMOVAL. Every word or deed spent in his cause it will help. Let’s learn to be responsible human beings. Let’s protect what protects us. Even the least environmental aware community members would probably prefer to park in shade away from our hot sun. The tree is there for all of society’s benefit. I am not sure if one land owner’s convenience should not have the right to destroy something that will benefit all of us for centuries." With love Giulia" GF The post received 87 likes and 45 comments between December 12 and 24, however most too late to result in submission/s to council re the application which closed on 16 December. The comments are worth reading through, however you do need to be a group member to see and respond to them. The Benalla Community Notice Board is a well moderated page and is worth joining. Marcus Bolger's post is particularly relevant ...."Hi everyone. I have now read the development application on the Council website. The Council engaged experts who carried out ground penetrating radar tests and they established that damage to the footpath in the vicinity of the gas meter is likely caused by tree roots. However the experts concluded “Pruning of the identified roots, or other root management options, could be undertaken to resolve the issue.” The experts did not recommend removal of the tree. I visited the tree today and any damage to the footpath to date seems minimal. The applicant for the tree removal, Mr Dean Steegstra, described the tree as being in good condition, with a high significance rating and high roadside conservation value, with a useful life expectancy of 20 plus years and low risk to persons. Accordingly there appears to be a good argument to retain the tree and carry out root pruning, rather than tree removal." Bev Lee
Arising out of the 2022 BSFG Review, our group consists of Karen Nankervis, Judy Schwarzman, Sue Campbell, Kate Holmes and Christine Holmes.
At our first meeting on Tuesday 12th July, we decided on a name - Greening Benalla Focus Group, BSFG. We discussed our interest and purpose as follows –
At this meeting Kate brought the BRC Health and Wellbeing Annual Action Plan 2022-2023 to our attention. We felt we could make a contribution to many of the intended actions and outcomes contained within the document.
Our second meeting, on the 26th July, was called abruptly as we found out through the Ensign funding was available for councils and community groups to apply for grants from The Living Local fund, to improve public spaces and streetscapes, due by 14th August. We made the following decisions as an action plan in preparation to apply for funding.
Christine Holmes, on behalf of the group. |
'Greening Benalla' - Greening and Cooling our Urban SpacesAn action group of BSFG which works towards the greening of the Benalla landscape by preserving existing vegetation and creating new green spaces and corridors. Categories
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Banner Photo: Banner: The Grubissa Court walkway - early jonquils and wattle, Benalla. August 9, 2022. The walkway off Grubissa Court is regarded as a 'lighthouse project' by BSFG's 'Greening and Cooling our Urban Spaces' action group. The walkway off Grubissa Court is regarded as an exemplary initiative by BSFG's new Greening Benalla Focus Group. Grubissa Court walkway was established some years ago now, it would be wonderful to see similar walkways planned into the development of new housing estates in Benalla. |
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Benalla Sustainable Future Group acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we live, work and meet, the Taungerang, Yorta Yorta and Bpangerang people
of North East Victoria, and pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
of North East Victoria, and pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.