Paperbarks slashed yet again

My journey into Woy Woy has become incredibly stressful.

The tree hackers have been at it again and the melaleuca quinquernervias, or broad leaved paper-barks, in South Woy Woy, have now have slashed yet again, with branches just waiting for any passing disease to enter.

I believe this to be cruelty to trees. These beautiful trees are being killed slowly. They might as well be cut down but of course that would deprive the tree slashers of work next year.

I do not know what impact this will have on next autumns flowering but I suspect that many insects and small mammals will be deprived of their food.

You may say what does this matter, they are only trees and insects?

Well these trees are homes for thousands of other forms of life, as well as providing nectar for bees and other flying insects.

They absorb much of the CO2 which we keep putting into the air as well as providing us with oxygen.

If we treat the natural world with such disdain, should we be surprised that we experience pandemics?

Australia is a world leader in mammal extinctions and there has been a marked decline in insect numbers.

We live in a bio-diverse world. Each form of life is dependent on others.

Insects for instance not only pollinate plants, they help to form the very soil on which we all depend.

Research in Germany is finding that trees talk to one another. They warn of advancing plagues, so that their fellow trees can increase their defenses.

Unfortunately, they do not seem to have an inbuilt mechanism to fend off their worst enemy, humankind.

When you bang a nail into a tree you are providing an entry point for disease. When you spray your plants with insecticides you are killing many useful insects as well as those which are causing you a problem.

I realise that this is an annual problem: there are letters every year. I fear that nothing will change until there is an upswell of public opinion.

Why are the electricity wires not underground? I know this would be a huge expense but do it once and do it properly and we could enjoy our life-giving beautiful trees as well as be rid of one cause of bushfires.

The electric utilities are responsible for this carnage. They are obliged to do it by the National Electrical Safety Code.

Until we see the necessity for putting the power lines underground, we must demand that this tree cutting be done by arborists, who know what they are doing.

A clean cut, as when we prune trees, would not allow disease to enter. Surely in this time of easy communication, you can send a quick message to your provider telling them that you are not happy and you wish for them to change their ways.

Write to your local politician, Liesl Tesch, for it is the States which sign up for this.

Doing things on the cheap often leads to a poor outcome.

Power lines underground and clean cuts when necessary.

SOURCE:

Email, 30 Aug 2020

Margaret Lund, Woy Woy Bay