The
AILA NSW Tree Management Forum
Australian Technology Park, Locomotive Workshop, Eveleigh, NSW
19th - 20th May 2005
Overview / Speakers / Papers / Forum
Program
Overview
The Tree
Management Forum promotes what must be
seen as the industry’s inevitable journey to pro-active
management of significant trees, cultural landscapes,
and urban tree
assets. For the sake of the environmental aesthetic
and community values of our cities we must embrace
the principles
of tree life cycle planning through the establishment
of sustainable mechanisms for their management,
protection, removal and replacement.
In
the Tree Management Forum the
industry has the vehicle to progress what started as the
passionate community debate around the future of the Fig
avenues in the Domain last year and subsequent works by the
City of Sydney. It aims to look behind the emotions of that
debate and raise awareness and understanding of issues relating
to the life cycle planning for trees in the urban environment.
The forum will promote a wide range of perspectives and bring
together the interests of arboricultural, cultural heritage,
natural heritage and community issues.
The
Forum is a partnership between the AILA NSW Group, state
government agencies such as the Botanic Gardens Trust,
Centennial Park & Moore Park Trust, NSW Heritage Office
and with the assistance of the Australian Institute of Horticulture,
the National Trust, National Arborist Association and
the
Local Government Trees Resource Association.
Fundamental
to the Forum is the formulation of a ‘working’ vision
and action plan for the achievement of tree management this will
be presented for debate by the Forum participants to serve
as a catalyst for reaching
consensus on a way forward.
Tree
Charter - Answers to Big Questions.
The
purpose of the Tree Forum is to develop a consistent framework
of approach and principles that can be used as a reference
standard by all practitioners involved in tree management.The
Tree Charter should document the values we place on trees
in the urban landscape, ideally with a set of criteria which
help us all to know when and how the Charter should come
into play.The Charter should then set out a set of principles
by which we should approach tree management, most likely
these principles would be both overarching and lifecycle
related. As professionals with an interest in the urban environment
in general and trees in particular, together we have the
experience and the skills to successfully manage trees, what
is needed is a validated coherent approach to present to
the greater community.
speakers'
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SPEAKERS
Chris
Williams
Williams Landscape Architects Auckland
Chris
Williams is a Landscape Architect in private practice. He
has a long-standing passion for trees for production and
amenity. He studied horticulture and practiced as a landscape
contractor before studying LA in Melbourne. His experiences
and observations regarding urban trees has at times been
focused, including research identifying the effects of ‘urban
design’ on trees (at Melbourne City), and the supposed
structural damage to roads caused by trees.
As
a past member of the Tree Council (Auckland) he has advocated
for tree protection, and advised on tree educational programs.
He has undertaken management planning for tree collections
including Eastwoodhill Arboretum. He designed the Ponsonby
Road Mainstreet Development Plan and other public open space
concepts, detailed design development, prepared reserve management
plans, and overseen the tree program at Manukau City. His
extensive travels have often included tree study in urban,
productive and natural contexts. He is a member of the International
Dendrology Society and other tree forums.
More
about Chris Williams here.
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JUDY FAKES
Head Teacher of Arboriculture, Ryde College of TAFE
Judy
Fakes has qualifications in Agricultural Science, Education,
Tree Surgery and Forestry. She has specialised in the teaching
off the theory and practice of soil science and arboriculture
at Ryde College of TAFE and has been involved in the development
of many of the TAFE NSW courses and modules which relate
to arboriculture. She is a member of a number of committees
including Australian Standards, TREENET and Royal Botanic
Gardens Horticulture Committee. She was involved in the development
of the WorkCover (NSW) Code of Practice for the Amenity Tree
Industry and since 1984 has worked closely with the electricity
supply industry. Apart from teaching, which she loves, she
finds some time to do some private consulting work on interesting
projects.
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RONALD
BARNES
BSc. (Newcastle Uni),Grad. Dip. Occupational Hazard Management, (Ballarat
Uni).
Ron
Barnes has a depth of experience in all aspects of risk
management and environmental risk management. His knowledge
and practical
experience in the management of risk is highly regarded
by his client base. Ron’s expertise includes areas
such as compliance audits, occupational health and safety,
public
liability, environmental risk management and risk assessments.
Ron
has worked extensively in the coal mining industry, chemical
industry, local government and recreational industry.
He was a member of the Australian
Coal Association’s Safety Committee, is a member of the NSW
Premiers’ Water
Safety Task Force, the Department of Sport and Recreation’s
Sports Safety Committee, the Department of Health’s Injury
Prevention Committee and he is a member of the Board of Management
of Statewide
Liability Mutual (NSW) as consultant on risk management issues.
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DR GREGORY M MOORE
Head of ILFR Burnley campus
Greg
Moore has been Principal of Burnley College of the Institute
of Land Food Resources at Melbourne University since
1988. Prior to that he had been a Senior Lecturer and Lecturer
in Plant Science and Arboriculture at Burnley from 1979.
He has been Head of the School of Resource Management
at
the University since October 2002
Apart
from a general interest in horticultural plant science
and ecology, Greg
has a specific interest in all aspects of arboriculture,
which is
the scientific study of the cultivation and management of trees.
He has contributed to the development of Australian Standards
in pruning and
amenity tree evaluation and has been a major speaker at conferences
in Australia, Hong Kong, USA and New Zealand in recent
years. He was the
inaugural president of the International Society of Arboriculture,
Australian Chapter. He has been a regular on Melbourne
radio, particularly with
ABC 774 and 3AW.
He
has been a member of the National Trust of Victoria’s
Register of Significant Trees since 1988 and has chaired
the committee since 1996. Greg has been on the Board of Greening
Australia (Victoria) since 1989 and has been an active member
of various sub-committees of that organisation. He was involved
with the Agriculture and Horticulture subject at VCE level
setting several of the examinations. He has also served on
a number of industry and TAFE sector committees, especially
those that deal with curriculum and accreditation matters.
He
is currently supervising six post-graduate students and continues
to pursue an active research profile in any matters that
relate to trees in the urban environment. He has written
one book, contributed to another and has had some 60 papers
and articles relating to tree biology and management published.
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PETER SOLNESS
photojournalist
Peter
Solness has worked as a photojournalist in Australia for
over 25 years, beginning his professional career as a staff
photographer for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Since
then he has worked on freelance assignments for major
magazine and newspaper publishers, such as The Goodweekend,
Time,
The Bulletin and Australian Geographic, as well as overseas
publications such as the London Independent, Conde Naste
Traveller, German GEO, Forbes and the Hong Kong Post.
Solness
has also completed photographic assignments for many
corporate clients such as Qantas Airlines, the N.R.M.A.,
the Commonwealth Bank,
AGL and Channel 7.
His
interests in social issues and cultural trends within
the Australasian region has seen him participate in numerous
exhibition, book and documentary film-stills projects
over
the years, for organisations such as Greenpeace, WWF,
and UNICEF.
His
images are held in the collections of the National Library
Canberra,
the State Library of N.S.W. as well as Regional Galleries and other
private collections
Solness
has been a principle photographer for eight books, dealing
with subjects as diverse as a
10,000 kilometre
journey on the Tran-Siberian
Railway, published as ‘The Red Express’ (Simon and
Schuster 1990), the changing seasons of the Australian continent, ‘The
Australian Year’ (Angus and Robertson 1983.) and the heritage
and character of a working harbour, ‘Sydney Harbour’ (Collins
1989).
In
1999 Solness completed a four year self-assigned book and
exhibition project, entitled ‘Tree Stories’.
In this project Solness sought to explore the underlying sentiments
Australians have about their
trees. The result was a book that drew on a wide cross-section
of Australians; from poets, farmers and scientists, to schoolchildren,
suburban homeowners
and Aboriginal elders.
Peter
Solness is currently based in Darwin, N.T. where he is pursuing
stories and images typical to northern Australia.
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MEREDITH
WALKER
Meredith
Walker is a heritage consultant with a long interest in the
methods and practice of heritage conservation. Her practice
Heritage Futures is based in Sydney. Meredith is a past president
of Australia ICOMOS and was actively involved in the preparation
and revision of the Australian ICOMOS charter for places
of cultural significance (the Burra Charter) and the guidelines
to the charter. She is co-author of the Illustrated Burra
Charter: Good practice for heritage places, Australia ICOMOS
2004. In recent years her practice has included involvement
in conservation management plans for several parks and gardens.
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ROBERT
KERR
Robert
Kerr is currently Parks Projects Coordinator with Willoughby
City Council. Amongst other responsibilities, he supervises
the Landscape Section responsible for Development Application
landscape assessment and Tree Preservation Order administration.
Recent and current projects include the review of the Willoughby
Tree Preservation Order; the Landscape Development Control
Plan; the Street Tree Survey and Management Plan; implementing
the Willoughby Natural Heritage Study; preparing a Phytophthora
Management Plan; Bushfire Prone Land Mapping; and various
major infrastructure projects, including the streetscape
upgrade of Chatswood CBD. Prior to joining Willoughby City
Council, Robert has worked with Ku-ring-gai and Woollahra
Councils in tree management positions, and practised as a
private Consultant in the area of open space and tree management.
Robert’s
overall approach to the urban tree resource is based on appropriate
tree conservation and management - an approach that recognises
the dynamic between the natural processes involved in tree
growth, land use requirements in an urban environment, and
the legitimate expectations of the various stakeholders involved.
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IAN
INNES
Director Park AssetsCentennial Park
and Moore Park Trust
Ian
Innes recently took up the position of Director Park
Assets at Centennial Parklands where he has responsibility
for the
management of 10000 trees in one of Australia’s
grandest 19th century public park settings. Centennial
Parklands has
a Tree Master Plan and tree replacement program widely
regarded as a model of best practice for the management
of urban trees
in a heritage landscape.
Formerly
Managing Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney Ian’s
professional interests and expertise encompass landscape design
and construction, open space management, garden history
and
heritage conservation, plants
and horticulture. He has considerable experience in the conservation,
management, and renewal of landscape estates where cultivated trees
are a major feature – this including experience
gained in the early 1990s in England, France and Italy
where he worked on several 19th century
private estate parks.
Ian
has spent most of his career working in the field of cultural
landscapes and is particularly
interested in Australia’s great legacy of 19th
century public parks, gardens and cemeteries – places which
are rich repositories of significant cultivated trees. As these
man-made
landscapes age issues around ongoing management of the tree resources
they contain, including the need for replacement and renewal, come
to the fore. Ian believes that these places are not frozen in time
and that
we should welcome the opportunities for renewal and change afforded
by the inevitable decline of the original plantings. As the 19th
century
provided the legacy of great trees we now enjoy the benefits of,
Ian’s
view is that we need to look to the sort of legacy we will be making
for the future by how we grow and manage trees in our own times.
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DR KAREN SMITH
Karen
has 16 years experience as an urban horticulturist, first
with the State Government, and then in research, teaching
and consulting at Burnley College and the University
of Melbourne. Her masters degree explored tree root establishment
in compacted
and waterlogged urban soils, and her recent PhD investigated
the nutritional and soil physical aspects of a designed
urban soil system.
As
the Street Tree Planner for the City of Hobsons Bay, Karen
is currently
engaged in developing and implementing a planning strategy for
the management of 800 heritage elm trees.
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PROF. JAMES WEIRICK
Professor of Landscape Architecture,
University of New South Wales
A
graduate of Harvard University, Professor James Weirick taught
at the Boston Architectural Center, University of Massachusetts/Boston,
University of Canberra and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,
prior to his appointment to the Chair of Landscape Architecture
at the University of New South Wales in 1991. His research
interests include the history of architecture, landscape
architecture and urbanism, with an emphasis on the ‘politics
of design’, particularly the work of Walter Burley
Griffin, the history of Canberra, and the urban landscape
of Sydney. He is actively engaged in issues of contemporary
urbanism throughout Australia as an educator, critic, and
commentator. Professor Weirick was an expert for the City
of Sydney in the ‘Domain Trees’ case before the
NSW Land & Environment Court in 2004, and an was an outspoken
critic of the tree removal and replacement program carried
out in The Domain and the Cahill Expressway under the imprimatur
of the Royal Botanic Gardens.
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