The Council has asked KPCA to communicate the following about tree removal in the south-west corner of the Park:
“QLDC are removing all the dangerous trees from the Stand within Jardine Park.
“A tree report commissioned after the first wind event in January 2019 recommended that the tracks within the stand should be closed with signage directing walkers around the stand deterring recreational users from this area.
“However the second storm event caused further trees within the stand to fail and many more root plates lifted, QLDC had to fence off the site to restrict access.
“It was recommended to QLDC that most effective from of management regarding the remaining conifer trees within the South-Western portion of Jardine Park would be to remove all the trees and replant with suitable alternative vegetation.
“QLDC has carried out communication on the tree removal, and it was reported at the KPCA AGM.
“The Jardine Landscape plan is out for comment till the 31st May 2020.”
The context to this essentially geological and botanical:
“The site had only a thin layer of topsoil, beneath which was a hard layer of rock or schist. This natural feature had resulted in the trees forming only limited root plates with no obvious depth or substantial purchase into a significant depth of subsoil. These limited root plates would have been sufficient to sustain the trees and support them when relatively early in their life cycle, this support being facilitated by the fact that as a group they provided shelter for each other.
“However, these unsubstantial root plates were tested to their limits during the storm and proved inadequate, likely resulting in the initial failure of a handful of edge trees, though the opening up of the forest edge allowed the winds to reach those more sheltered trees inevitably resulting in further tree failures.“
We hope to hold a drop-in session on the draft Landscape Plan once we reach Level 2.