Residents are invited to have their say with the Draft Wellington Street Tree master plan now on public exhibition.
It has been previously identified that Wellington did not have an existing street tree master plan that would enable for a strategic approach to be taken.
Under the draft plan there is a proposed goal to increase the total canopy cover of the urban area to 30 per cent by 2050. Currently Wellington is sitting at 12 per cent and Montefiories is sitting at 17 per cent.
A further important part of the plan is to increase the diversity of tree species throughout the township, with the increase in diversity proposed to help build resilience to climate change and potential pest and disease introduction.
"Currently Wellington has a narrow tree planting palette that could result in widespread tree loss if a disease enters the population," Manager Recreation Open Space Ian McAlister said.
"For example Claret Ash, which are currently grown in Wellington, are susceptible to disease and with some of the trees are already infected Council wants to build more resilience to the tree population by increasing the diversity."
Currently 18.6 per cent of the street trees in Wellington are Claret Ash, Fraxinus raywood.
"This is a very high representation of one species within the population and exceeds the industry guidelines that no one species represents more than five to ten per cent of the population," Mr McAlister said.
The report shows there are potentially almost 1,100 vacant street tree sites across Wellington, though future potential changes to land use may made some of these obsolete.
The report also states there is a reasonably broad diversity of tree size and type with a good balance between evergreen and deciduous species across the town.
Residents are invited to have a look at the report and have their say on the proposed plan which include tree canopy targets, Street Tree Prioritisation and the types of trees to be planted.
The draft public exhibition will be open until 9am Thursday 30 March, 2023.
Exhibition documents can be viewed online or in person at Council Customer Experience Centres in Dubbo and Wellington.
To view the documents online visit: https://www.dubbo.nsw.gov.au/public-exhibition/public-exhibition-of-draft-wellington-street-tree-master-plan
