IT IS AN EXTREME pleasure to be able to work on the trees of the Blackall Range, where it is very hard to go wrong when asked to enhance a client’s surroundings.
Tony Wootton, has been an active aborist on the Blackall Range for more than 20 years. Here he gives some insight into his love of trees and how he goes about caring for our ‘silent sentinels’
The basis of a beautiful landscape is already there – you have breath-taking views, bewitching landforms, and an ever-changing panorama of cloud, mist, fog, and brilliant blue skies. When you add trees – these awe inspiring, huge, and complex organisms – and you treat them well theysimply add to the beauty that is already there.
That’s not to say there isn’t a dark side to our Range trees. Tree and limb failures regularly cause damage to property, and tragically can sometimes take human lives. That’s because we live on top of a rich deep layer of volcanic soil, and enjoy an incredibly high rainfall. So, our tree species are among the largest in the world, and we frequently see trees 40 metres tall, that are only 15-20 years old.
We also live on a mountain top and we endure considerably higher average wind speeds than the low lands. Occasionally we experience freak wind storms, cyclonic weather and a ridiculously high incidence of lightning strikes.
Consequently, if we don’t want to live with a high level of risk, we need to think carefully about where we grow our big trees, and be prepared to prune or remove them at some point in the future.
It is emotionally difficult for many of us to take down a tree that we have watched grow for 10, 15, 20 years or more, but whenever I carry out a careful pruning or tree removal, attitudes change. Without exception, comments from clients, will refer to the wonderful experience of a lightened ambience around the house and yard.
While many treechangers to the Range want at first to live amongst the rainforest and closer to nature, what they discover is that trees absorb sunlight and often shade the house, particularly in winter. So, experience demonstrates the good sense of providing space and light by planting trees at a reasonable distance from the home.
I have always loved our local native rainforest trees. They seem to me to sit really well in our misty green landscape and their appeal is more subtle than a lot of the bright floral displays or vivid autumn hues of non-endemic species. I have come to appreciate these exotic trees for their visual amenity but I still prefer the varying understated green hues of the ‘locals’.
I am continually amazed at how every block I visit has its own special outlook or feel – whether it’s a beautiful forest, a burbling brook or a stunning view. And once again, the trees compliment this feel.
I enjoy being able to further beautify these environments by manipulating the existing vegetation, pruning and detailing some of the trees and shrubs, removing species that don’t seem to belong, and highlighting some of the previously hidden arboreal gems.
Coming into winter is my busiest season. It is the best time to carry out structural pruning when the trees are dormant and growth slows down, and we all have the chance to get on top of the rapidly expanding vegetation around them.
Arborists, proper tree care, and tree preservation are all coming to the fore in our environmentally-sensitive society, and part of my role is helping people understand the trees around them, and the needs of those trees. Public liability and risk management are issues that are also on the rise, and it is often a tricky balance between tree preservation, public safety, and economic considerations.
Day to day my time is spent assessing trees, climbing them, working out of cherry pickers, pruning, felling, doing root treatments, then report writing, research, and then business paper work.
Climbing trees is always challenging. As soon as I leave the ground, I feel happy and I start singing – badly, as my ground crew will tell you. Different species feel different to climb, and you have to focus totally on what is happening as there are potential dangers, not only for the aborist, but for other crew members and surrounding property.
I would urge every-one who lives on, or visits the Range, to take the time to just gaze at some of our big, awesome trees – the iconic Bunya pine, the mighty blue quandong, the legendary red cedar, the bumpy ash, to name just a few – and see if you can appreciate what incredible living miracles they really are.
For further information phone 5494 4917.
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