For the past 22 years I've lived behind a school and put up with so much from this school, kids breaking my fence, throwing their rubbish over my fence, constantly knocking on my door asking for their ball, even kids breaking into my back shed but I have never ever complained to the school. But this morning broke the camels back for me. I woke early this morning to magpies literally screaming, and birds flying everywhere. For the past 22 years there have been two very large gum trees in the school that housed Red Wattle Birds amongst other birds. At 6am they had chainsaws and earth movers in and chopped these two gum trees down, without any warning to the people who live next to the school. They didn't even bother to check if there were any birds nesting there at all, even though it's not the right time of the year for most birds to be doing so. They go on about saving the environment and being green and teaching kids about plants and wildlife, yet they go and do this. The birds were so distressed. I can't believe the council here allowed them to do that. Those birds have now been pushed out of their homes. Do we really have to chop everything down that grows, for goodness sakes! I am so annoyed.
How distressing Kim!
I similar thing happened to me last year. A massive eucalypt that over hung our place (spanned almost the whole width of the yard) was cut down by council with no warning to me. I was devestated as it was a lovely perching spot for lots of birds and a favourite spot for possums. I was also far from impressed because I have 3 dogs who are out there if I am not home. There was saw dust that covered everything and some pieces of limbs landed in our yard.
I was on the phone to council as it was happening (and I worked out this wasn't just a trim) and let them know of my concerns for all the birds and animals that use it and that I should have been informed. Of course it did no good but my response went on the record.
I would make an apppointment at the school to quiz them about why it happened and also give the local council a call as well. My guess the stock standard answer will be that the limbs were dangerous and could fall. I would ask the school if they planned on putting in a garden for the birds. You could always take them in a set of our bird-friendly garden guidelines for schools :) We also have a school curriculum resource that we are a part of that you could let them know about :)
Good luck, sorry you and the birds have had such a horrid start to the day.
Holly
Morning Kimbolina, you wouldn't believe how I understand you, I have been fighting neighbours and councils for years. Where I live it's getting harder and harder to get anywhere. As we live in an "extreme fire danger zone", after the fires two years ago, people are taking trees down, and even worse removing undergrowth. We have stopped cleaning up our property,the grass has gone to seeds. Just this morning I watched 2 Rosellas walk across the grass,eating seeds. But back to the council, in my area they now make up lots of excuses because of fire prevention, and are very generous handing out permits to remouve anything.I am as distressed about it as you, I went to council meetings to bring up the topic. Hard to fight all those people who yell out, people's lives are more important than trees.
M-L
I just remembered 8 years ago, when we wanted to remove 2 trees that had lots of borers, someone from the council came to have a look. Back in those days the policy in our shire was, every tree cut down had to be replaced by 3 new trees. We planted 10 young trees. But today people are scared of planting anything native. As for the nests in trees, we cut down some European plants to replace with natives. One had a possum nest in it. We got friends to help cut the branche of, and tied it to an other tree. The ungrateful poss jumped down and bit my daughter when she caught it. But later it went back to it's nest.
M-L
Two years ago they did put up trees along the fence next to the houses but they are not gumtrees or natives to Australia. The birds barely sit in these trees. As for the school there are only two gumtrees left, one on a back fence and one near the two they just cut down. Every night I would sit in my backyard and watch the Red Wattle Birds feasting on the insects that would fly around those two trees they just cut down. Right at this very moment I have a Wattle Bird sitting in my China Doll Tree which is not a native and doesn't house birds, calling for its family. I can't believe the councils allow this and I honestly can't believe how the school can even consider cutting down these two gumtrees. On t.v. regularly you see kids being taught the importance of planting trees and learning about wildlife, all for what? In twenty years they'll cut them down too to live in a concrete world. I'm so angry and to be honest upset they've done this, and who knows if the other two will be cut down too.
I am going to ring the council and complain and if they don't listen then I'll go to a government official and complain. They can't do this, especially when they're teaching young children one thing, only to do the exact opposite. I look out my backyard and it's so bare. If my block was big enough I would plant a gumtree to replace the ones they destroyed, but sadly it's not big enough.
I'm sorry if I sound abrupt but I am really annoyed at the school/council and I'm sure they're going to build some big concrete monstrosity in-place of where these trees were.
Just an update...I did get in contact with a government official who adviced me to speak to my local council and voice my concerns over these two gumtrees. So I rang my council and spoke to a lady who told me, because the trees were on private property, the school could cut them down as long as they were not 2 meters or more in diameter. However going by her reaction when I told her the age of the trees, I'm guessing the school will now have a council inspection about these two trees. I did convey my concerns over the abundance of wildlife the housed those two trees to the council and she adviced me to speak to the school principle. The other thing I noticed was the tree stumps were removed immediately, which means if the council do investigate, there are no stumps to measure how wide these trees actually were. I have a funny suspicion these trees were over 2 meters in diameter and this is the reason why they were removed at 6am and the stumps destroyed straight away.
Kimbolina, I wish I could help, I can feel your frustration. Keep the outrage going, nature needs the help of people like you!!! Let us know what the council has said. I have found, any complaint you make, has to be done in writing, e-mails are good, so you have a record of what has been said, for later. I have heard before, they claim to never have had a complaint! I live in an environmentaly sensitive area, with lots of rules, all of them broken at times. Just like the one about cats, not to be outside after dusk. But I have neighbours with 5 cats, all hunting day and night. The council doesn't give a s.....t!Drives me nuts, everytime I hear the bird warn and scream. Good luck Kimbo!!!
M-L
Don't suppose you have any photos of your yard with the trees visible in it????
Holly, the only photos of the trees I have are these two. They don't really show you the size of the trees, but they were pretty big. As you may or may not be able to see, there are 5 magpies sitting in this tree, and this tree is the one that actually housed the Red Wattle Birds.
This is the other tree they chopped down which was not far from the first one.
I think what I might do with the two other gumtrees they have in the school yard is take photos. I can't go out there at the moment because the wattle birds are on my birdbath and I think they've had enough trauma for one day. However when they're gone, I'll take photos, and take photos of the new trees they have planted. I saw one tree which may be a gumtree that is planted close to my fence but I'm not sure if it is.
Araminta, the council virtually told me, the school can do whatever it wants because it's on their property.
......now, why am I not surprised? I have heard it all before, to think we pay those clowns....
M-L
G'day Kimbolina. As someone who works for the Dept of Education I can tell you that in some cases the decision to knock down trees may not have come from the school itself.
During the BER project that Kevin Rudd initiated, a lot of this went on to make way for new buildings etc, but it was out of the hands of the schools to do anything about it.
If I were you I'd talk to the school first to find out why the trees were taken down. If it is a Fed Govt initiative in conjunction with BER or some capital works program, then the local council wont be of any help to you either. In some cases schools themselves are not necessarily told what is going to happen until it is happening, and have little to no say in the matter themselves.
Gidday Kimbolina,I am so with you on this one, last year I had a storm water drain over the back that was very tidy had some short reeds along the edges and about 4 inches of sand on the bottom. I had recorded 28 regular visitors to this drain I even tried without success to have council reps have a look at planting some natives in the vacant land along it, to no avail.
I recorded all the species I had seen and offered to meet with them and show them but they were not interested.
I came home from work one day and everything was completely gone !!!
The Buff banded rail with her babies, gone, the Plovers with their babies,gone, the Grass whistler with her young and the Pacific Black duck with her young, gone.
Not to mention the Wrens,Egrets,Herons,Dotterels,Bush Thick Knees,Chestnut Breasted Mannikans.....Anyway you are starting to get the picture.
No on will ever convince me that councils have nature in mind, they are a pack of low down grubs for what they did and I still cnnot believe that it still happened.
That is so sad Tassie. I totally agree I really don't think the councils really give nature any consideration when it comes to taking down trees.
People keep telling me not to worry the birds will find a new home but, this would mean the birds also have to fight with other birds for new territory.
Hi Kimbo
One of the forest areas that I enjoy is in the grounds of my daughter's school. Yesterday I received the newsletter and it spoke of Energex coming to "trim" some trees for safety and power line reasons. The road in question is gorgeous and I am dreading going along there after they have finished. I realise it will only be the roadside or nearby trees but every tree they chop breaks my heart. Reminds me of the lyrics to Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi :'(
Sunshine Coast Queensland
I'm just like you, every tree and the undergrowth,(most important for birds), that we loose,hurts me! I have just driven past a property in our street,that has a SOLD sign on it. 5 acres of densely treed land,there would have to be more than 120 trees on it! No doubt,once they have a permit to build a house, bit by bit, ALL the trees will go. You will most likely see me on the news, beeing chained to a tree,trying to save some! All I can do, is plant even more on our land, planted 20 last year. (Just have to find the money!)
M-L
Hello all,
I've just read through all the messages and whilst l thoughly agree with all the comments about local, state and federal government departments, yelling and screaming does nothing.
As Holly said - get the Birds Australia education material out there. Go and visit the school principal, the teachers AND the President of the school council with the BA material.
Make suggestions as to where to plant new natives eg., a mix of tall, mid and low species throughout the school yard. Kangaroo Paws are a great plant to get started as they flower young and are virtually indestructable to footballs and little feet.
If they will let you, offer to show the kids where the native birds live - l'm assuming there will be some birds left in the area.
Adults and bureaucrats are governed by rules. Kids aren't - their minds are still open and when they're young is the best time to give them an insight into the wonderful world of watching and caring for Australia's birds.