What is happening to Gilgandra’s trees?

They’re not in any particular place, nor are they just one type of tree, but their slow decline has been of concern for some Gilgandra residents.

Gilgandra Shire Council (GSC) have been in contact with an environmental consultant to come have a look at these trees, and according to GSC general manager David Neeves, they have already ruled out any sort of chemical as the cause.

“At first we thought it might have been something like spray drift, but the location of the trees were too random,” he explained.

“So whatever’s doing it, its not obvious. It’s not a pest as such we don’t think. There’s a few theories, and its probably microorganism type impacts as opposed to pest species like a boar or insect of sorts.” 

The trees are located throughout the shire, including along the river, in Hunter Park, and even in the centre traffic islands of Wamboin Street. While Mr Neeves explained he doesn’t like seeing trees being cut down, he’s going to leave the decisions to the experts.

“I’m not a fan of seeing trees cut down, because I believe they’re a valuable piece of community infras- tructure. So, we want to make sure we can do whatever we can to give those trees a chance of survival.”

Mr Neeves said the challenge was now for council to source specialist expertise to come and visit the area to look at the trees to make an assessment, or guide recovering efforts.

Council are aware the issue is affecting a number of different tree species, in many different locations in the shire. But hope is being held out for several of the big- ger trees. “Some of the big ones, especially the lemon scented gums, are hanging in there,” said Mr Neeves.

More to come after the environmental consultant can visit to inspect the trees.