Kings Park, Kings Park,

WHERE SHOULD ALL THE TREES GO? STATE BY STATE WA WHAT’S HAPPENING?

Average canopy cover 51% of urban WA is urban LGAs in WA have seen a 19.95% decrease in shrubs. down 2.32% from 22.27% in 2011. The is of concern given that there has been a

16.6% loss in shrubbery and an almost equivalent gain in grass surfaces, suggesting that clearing may have taken place. 41% of 24% of urban LGAs in WA LGAs in WA have have experienced a seen an increase The 5% loss of canopy in the City of Cockburn is significant loss in hard surfaces. almost equivalent to that of the hard surface increase. in canopy.

WHERE SHOULD ALL THE TREES GO? WESTern AUSTRALIA WA THE MOST & LEAST VULNERABLE

2.5 Rain A r 3.0 Rain B T T E 2.0 Rain S T B S W 3.5 Rain T n 1.5 Rain S S T

4.0 Rain T S 1.0 Rain S T S

4.5 Rain 0.5 Rain T B

LEAST MOST VULNERABLE VULNERABLE

TOP URBAN GREENING OPPORTUNITIES:

-- (0.5) -- , , City of (2) -- (1) -- , City of , , , -- City of Cockburn, (1.5) (2.5) -- , , , , (3)

WHERE SHOULD ALL THE TREES GO? WESTern AUSTRALIA WA SNAPSHOT

KEY STATISTICS 2011* 2016 THE GREEN KEY Tree Canopy Cover 22.27% 19.95% 2.32% Loss

In technical terms, a tree is a plant Shrub Cover 8.73% 7.63% 1.1% Loss over six metres, while a shrub is Grass Cover 29.87% 31.19% 1.32% Gain under six metres. However, for an accurate comparison to our Hard Surface 39.13% 41.22% 2.09% Increase previous mapping report, ‘Where are all the trees?’, we have used the following definitions: SHRUB & TREE CANOPY COVER CHANGES IN WA LGAS 2011-2016

Trees Anything that looks 10 % like a tree from above, distinguished 5 % from shrubs by the

shadows cast. 0 %

Shrub -5 % Landscaped vegetation as well as bushland -10 % shrubs, crops and grapevines. -15 %

Grass Cleared road sides, GREEN COVER GAIN & LOSS IN WA LGAS 2011-2016 lawns, pastures, sites cleared for

development and 4 % sporting grounds. 2 %

Hard surfaces 0 % Asphalt, buildings, -2 % car parks, footpaths, sandy beaches, train -4 %

lines, rocky coastlines -6 % and water.

SIGNIFICANT INCREASE NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE SIGNIFICANT DECREASE SHRUB CHANGE

* From ‘Benchmarking Australia’s Urban Tree Canopy: An i-Tree Assessment’, Final Report (2014) WHERE SHOULD ALL THE TREES GO? WESTern AUSTRALIA PeWArth, W –A PERTH

URBAN HEAT ISLAND MAPPING An urban heat island is an area that heats up more than – and stays hotter than – its surrounding areas due to human impact of hard surfaces and development. Colours are used below to differentiate intensity of urban heat islands.

Legend

Hottest Areas

Hottest 16%

Hottest 8%

Hottest 2.5%

O 0 7 14Kilometers Sources: Esri, HERE, DeLorme, Intermap, increment P Corp., GEBCO, USGS, FAO, NPS, NRCAN, GeoBase, IGN, Kadaster NL, Ordnance Survey, Esri Japan, Map by: Alex Saunders Date: 23/05/2017 METI, Esri China (Hong Kong), swisstopo, MapmyIndia, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community PeWArth, W –A PERTH

URBAN HEAT CONTINENTS Contiguous areas of urban heat spots or islands show a phenomenon more akin to an urban heat continent than a spot or island. The colours differentiate the various heat continents.

O 0 7 14Kilometers

Map by: Alex Saunders Date: 23/05/2017 Esri, HERE, DeLorme, MapmyIndia, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS user community WA THE GOOD NEWS

The City of Armadale The City of Armadale The City of Belmont has Both the City of Belmont currently has has undergone a also undergone an and the City of Armadale 46% URBAN 13.2% INCREASE are two of THE MOST TREE INCREASE IN TREE DEDICATED CANOPY IN CANOPY. CANOPY COUNCILS COVER Hard surfaces have had BY 3.1% TO URBAN – the second highest no significant increase. This is particularly FORESTRY, cover among urban LGAs Grassed surfaces have important as it has with strong targets in WA. increased by happened at the and committed urban most vulnerable end forestry teams. 6% of the scale (0.5). Shrub-covered areas have decreased by 18.4% This low incidence of shrubbery is most likely due to smaller plantings maturing and now being identified as tree canopy.

WHERE SHOULD ALL THE TREES GO? WESTern AUSTRALIA WA COUNCIL COMMENTS

CITY OF KWINANA

This is the first heat mapping data the City has had access to for our Local Government area. It will be useful for an upcoming GRAY STEAD review of our Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Strategy. MANAGER OPERATIONS AND ENVIRONMENT We feel the map is broadly accurate given our experience on the ground. It was noted that there are a few vegetated areas that are classified as hotspots. One large one in particular we noted had The City of Subiaco has more detailed thermal imagery to identify been burnt recently and wondered if this had affected the results. heat islands and future planting areas that relates to its new town There is also another spot that is adjacent to Bollard Bulrush planning scheme. A more detailed strategy will be outlined in their wetland and we wondered if the black soil may have affected this. new urban forest strategy by the end of 2017. There is a large suburb (Bertram) that is undergoing a street tree planting program as it has very little vegetation. Given the lack of street trees in this suburb, it was surprising that this was not a hotspot. Belgravia is noted as a hotspot which matches our understanding of street tree coverage. There are other areas that are noted as hotspots that were recently cleared. It would be interesting to see how they change after urban development. Our team has looked at the RMIT report for our LGA and we have found nothing that contradicts our expectations. We are yet to receive our own set of canopy data for the period in question, which means that we have not had the opportunity to compare RMIT’s findings to our own dataset. SARAH MCCABE SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER By way of comment, we found it interesting that all the areas of heat vulnerability and greening opportunity identified in the RMIT report for our LGA are on State Government controlled land, where we have little if any influence on plantings. We can however use the information to advocate to State Government, particularly as we had already identified those areas as a priority for greening.

ANITA MARRIOTT SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, POLICY & PLACE

WHERE SHOULD ALL THE TREES GO? WESTern AUSTRALIA WANT TO KNOW MORE?

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