Tree Planting
Each year we plant around 1200 street and park trees through our Living Streets program. We prioritise areas most in need as well as recently completed stormwater, road and footpath repairs and construction. Tree planting is also part of our large infrastructure projects.
Newcastle Tree Map
Our Tree Map shows all the street and park trees that are currently part of Newcastle’s urban forest. We do our best to ensure this information is accurate but there may be occasional errors. If you spot anything that doesn't seem quite right, or you have a question about any of the content, please contact us.
FAQs
You removed a street tree from in front of my house, will a replacement be planted?
We hope to replace all removed street trees, however we may be unable to in some circumstances. There may also be delays on replacement trees as we will be replanting by street, not by property.
Do residents pay for tree planting in their streets?
Residents only pay for trees if public trees are removed as part of driveway or development application.
How will the ‘right’ tree species be selected for my street?
Trees are selected based on space limitations, soil and climate conditions, and design and infrastructure. We also ask residents for approval.
Once the site-specific information has been filtered through the tree species matrix, a short-list of species with suitable characteristics is generated. Residents will then be consulted on progressing to the final selection of preferred species. Trees are ordered under contract eighteen months prior to planting to ensure availability and quality.
What is the planting process?
You will be notified by a letterbox drop one to two weeks prior to planting. Then the ground is prepared and excavated and within a few weeks, the tree is planted.
Who will maintain the new trees planted in my street?
Our tree planting team will maintain all newly planted street trees until they are properly established (a minimum of at least two years). Maintenance of newly planted street trees includes watering, mulching, fertilising, weeding and formative pruning. After this time our tree maintenance team will take over maintenance of the tree.
You are welcome to give additional water to the new tree and to remove weeds and trim grass around mulch edges, taking care not to damage the trunk.
Once established, the new street tree should not normally need additional watering, but trees less than five years old will benefit from periodic deep watering in dry times.
Pruning, fertilising and pest control is our responsibility. Please do not attempt to prune a public tree yourself. If you feel a public tree requires pruning or other maintenance, please contact us to request a tree inspection by one of our qualified arborists.
Should I top-up the mulch at the base of the street tree?
We use mulch that is treated to a specific Australian Standard. To ensure we maintain this level of quality we ask that you do not top-up mulch around street trees.
Can I plant a tree of my choice?
We do not grant approval for residents to plant trees themselves on public land as many of our services run underground and you may affect your street’s electricity, sewerage, or gas.
What if people plant trees on public land without approval?
If a person plants a tree on public land, we reserve the right to remove the tree. We may attempt to place the removed tree in a pot which will then be returned to the resident, however where potting is impractical, the tree will simply be removed and disposed of without compensation to the resident.
Planting large trees for the future
We are continuing to plant large tree species for future generations in parks or similar open areas, minimising damage to infrastructure and the tree. This approach extends the useful life of the tree and reduces our maintenance costs.
We are planting more public trees than we remove. For example, 274 figs were planted between 2002 and 2012 which equates to three figs planted for each fig removed in this period.
