Street Trees

Launceston is renowned for its parks, gardens and trees. Trees and green open spaces provide many benefits.

 Street trees enhance the visual amenity of a place by complementing architectural features, softening the hard surfaces of the built environment and screening undesirable features.

They provide a strong sense of identity to a street or local area. Street trees are often the element people associate with a particular street. Examples are David Street's pin oaks and Elphin Road's crab apples. Street trees can also reflect the history of an area, providing an important link with the past - for example, Invermay Road's plane trees.

Trees assist in maintaining and enhancing biodiversity in the urban environment and provide habitats for a wide range of bird and animal life. They also assist in providing wildlife corridors for migratory species. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, locking up carbon that in turn helps regulate the Earth's climate. They reduce air pollution by intercepting and filtering harmful gases and airborne particle pollution, such as car fumes. Their shade lowers the local temperatures of hard surfaces and can reduce heating or cooling requirements in nearby buildings, therefore reducing power consumption. It is important that the right tree species are chosen to suit and adapt to a changing climate.

Trees improve and enrich health and wellbeing; in the built environment they are one of the main connections people have with nature. In addition, tree shade can provide a direct health benefit by protecting people from harmful UV radiation and encourage people to spend time outdoors.

The City of Launceston, through the implementation of the Urban Greening Strategy(PDF, 8MB), is building a vibrant, liveable and sustainable city.

Tree Pruning

The City inspects and prunes street trees regularly to lift canopy height above footpaths, maintain lines of sight for vehicles, and provide clearance from infrastructure and power lines. Trees growing under power lines are pruned by TasNetwork's accredited vegetation contractors.

Generally, City of Launceston will not consider leaf, fruit, flower, bark stripping, sap or wildlife as valid reasons for pruning trees. Pruning for view or solar access will be assessed on a case by case basis. Pruning will not be undertaken where it will disfigure the tree, impact on the health and vitality of the tree or impact on native wildlife habitat (foraging and/or nesting).

Tree management policy(PDF, 71KB)

Submit a maintenance request

Tree Explorer App

The Tree Explorer App enables you to discover and learn about the trees located in the parks and streets of Launceston. Simply click on your preferred tree to access detailed information, or use the search and query tools to map various tree species.

View the Launceston Tree Explorer App below, or in a separate internet browser:

 

View the Tree Explorer App