Introduction

Trees are an important feature of the urban, rural and natural landscapes. For many people, trees are the embodiment of the environment and tree planting is seen as a key environmental tool. Trees perform many vital services, such as preventing soil erosion, providing habitats for wildlife, improving the atmosphere, protecting water catchments or simply providing shade on a hot summer’s day. Canberra prides itself as being the ‘bush capital’ with the tree-covered mountains to the west providing a majestic backdrop to the city. Many of the units of Canberra Nature Park, interspersed among Canberra’s suburbs, have trees making up significant components of their ecosystems. Within the suburbs and the city centres, native and exotic tree species form key elements of the ‘garden city’ aspect of Canberra. To address tree protection issues in the urban environment, the Tree Protection Act 2005 (ACT) (‘Tree Protection Act’) was introduced and came into force on 29 March 2006.