Geraldton community brainstorming session encourages more verge trees around the city

A community member is asking the City of Greater Geraldton to consider new ways to increase the number of trees planted on residential verges in the hope of greening the streets and creating a cooler environment.

A group of residents called a public meeting on Tuesday night, with over 35 attendees brainstorming ideas to encourage residents to plant trees on verges.

Property owners can register interest to plant a street tree on their verge, with the council providing up to 200 seedlings annually.

But tree planting advocate Anne Karczub said it wasn’t well-advertised and hoped the City would consider beginning an “opt-out” program for home owners, allowing tree planting to commence along streets unless the owner declines.

“The meeting is really to galvanise, I suppose public interest, and gauge some enthusiasm in the Geraldton community for increasing the number of verge trees and street trees that we have,” she said.

“I think the beauty is that once you plant a tree and it survives, it’s going to be there for our kids and the future, it will be there for the next 50, 60, 70, 80 years — it’s a wonderful investment to make.”

City of Greater Geraldton CEO Ross McKim said since 2011, more than 521,000 plantings had been registered with the Million Trees Project and he urged residents to apply for a verge tree.

“If a suitable spot can be identified on the verge a tree will be planted and watered by the City for the first 12 months,” he said.

“We look forward to hearing ideas from the community on how they can help beautify our City by planting trees and greening their verges.”

Owners require authorisation from the director of infrastructure services before planting on a verge.