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www.wangarattachronicle.com.au
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
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CATHEDRAL RESTORATION IS COMPLETE JAMES McAuley from Cathedral Stone yesterday completed the prolonged replacement of five crosses atop St Patrick’s Catholic Church, which were damaged in the 2021 earthquake. Full story page 2 PHOTO: Jeff Zeuschner
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MORE TREES AXED Council to remove another dozen gum g trees p posing gp public danger g in Merriwa Park
A SERIES of falling tree events in Wangaratta’s Merriwa Park has triggered the planned removal of up to a dozen “high to extreme risk” gum trees from the area. Four large gum trees have fallen in the park since September last year with flooding in the park last month prompting its closure until problem trees are removed and the area is classified as safe.
BY STEVE KELLY skelly@ nemedia.com.au
Merriwa Park was previously closed and then reopened last December after an arborist’s report deemed the tree risk as “Broadly Acceptable” (<1 in 1,000,000). However, since then,
persistent rainfall has contributed to the park’s high ground water table, which affects the stability of the trees’ root systems, with a large gum falling on July 5. Council has undertaken and commissioned several internal and external risk assessments leading to the recommendation to remove up to 12 red gum trees within the boundary of the park,
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and habitat pruning several others. A tree is considered high risk if it contains a defect that will likely result in failure and, if it is in line of a potential target, such as people, infrastructure, or property, likely to be harmed in the case of failure. Wangaratta Landcare & Sustainability (WLS) president Russell Sully said the
organisation holds Merriwa Park and Kaluna Island in very high regard and although they are concerned, they agree that some of the old red gums pose a risk to people’s safety. “The Urban Landcare Care group who are now an important part of WLS have conducted rehabilitation and revegetation of Kaluna Park for over 25 years and
we highly value the whole Merriwa Park reserve,” Mr Sully said. “We are concerned but accept that some of the old red gums need to be removed to minimise the risks to people using the park. “We see these large red gums as important character defining trees within Wangaratta that are hard to replace. ■ Continued page 2
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