Practice Note No. 06: Tree Retention

Abstract

Often a criticism of the suburban development process is that it results in a sea of roofs. With all houses being built at the same time and street tree planting taking a considerable time to reach maturity, new developments will take many years before landscaping softens the raw edges of the development.

» Even modest retention of existing trees within suburban development:

» can reduce significantly the unsightly 'sea of roofs' and

» provides a frame for the street tree and lot landscaping treatments.

However, street tree retention is difficult in practice, particularly as residential densities increase, and requires pre-planning, a multi-disciplinary approach and often additional expense.