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1. Please do not allow the removal of the tree unless it poses a danger for some reason.

   Francis St is a beautiful, leafy street near the Thomas Hogan Reserve. It forms an important habitat "stepping stone" to the Thomas Hogan Reserve.

   Birds (especially small birds like wrens) and animals can only move across the urban landscape if there are vegetation "stepping stones" , or better still, connected vegetation corridors, that they can use for shelter, food and places to nest.

   Species loss results when fauna is isolated in fragmented islands that have no connections, or a great distance, to other vegetated areas. The removal of each tree incrementally destroys the stepping stones and corridors that are vital for the surviving urban biodiversity.

   In addition, 340 Australian vertebrate species use tree hollows. 100 of those species are endangered. A tree hollow takes on average 120 years to form, and for a large hollow suitable for a brushtail possum or a large owl it can take 220 to 270 years to form. (see Gibbons and Lindenmayer "Tree Hollows and Wildlife Conservation in Australia")

   Do the maths and you can see that each mature tree that is removed adds further pressure on the survival of our endangered species, because there are fewer trees which have or may be reaching an age at which a tree hollow can form.

   It takes more than our lifetime to grow a tree hollow, so removing a tree because someone has bought a property and decides they will clear the garden of the existing trees, is conservation vandalism.

   Apart from the formation of tree hollows, we are at an ecological tipping point in relation to climate change, and in relation to our biodiversity following the massive loss of 3 billion animals in our 2019/2020 bushfires in NSW. Trees help to slow the climate changes and provide food and habitat for the state's surviving birds and animals.

   Removal of trees should is now a grave and sombre matter that must not be done on a whim.

   Please do not allow the removal of this tree unless it poses a danger...and please also only allow the pruning of the other trees that is absolutely necessary for safety and ease of access in the property.

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