Tree lopping in Gymea: good to know
| Gymea | Gymea Bay | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| What's listed | Blackbutt street trees on Forest Road and on Gymea Bay Road, plus eucalypts and wide grassed verges on the Kingsway | Gymea Baths with its bushland setting, Tallow Woods on Coonong Road and a single eucalypt at Winkin Avenue | |
| The usual trees | Big roadside gums: Blackbutt, White Stringybark, Snappy Gum, Tallow Wood | Bush gums and the understorey around the bay | |
| Fire | No focus area named in the bush fire plan | Part of the Grays Point-Gymea Bay focus area, with some homes in the High to Highest risk category | |
| Access | Wide roads, but busy ones like the Kingsway and Princes Highway | Restricted road access in and out, which the fire plan flags too |
Tree lopping in Gymea: what's local
A highway of gums
Council's heritage list, as drafted in 2020, includes stands of Tallow Wood, Blackbutt, Snappy Gum, Rose Gum and White Stringybark along the Princes Highway between the Kingsway and The Boulevarde. Snappy Gums also line the median at Gymea Bay Road and Forest Road.
Hazelhurst
The Hazelhurst garden and grounds on the Kingsway, cottage included, are on the same list. It's a reminder that a whole garden, not just a single tree, can carry heritage protection.
Named after a plant
Wikipedia says the suburb's name comes from the Dharawal word for the Gymea lily, and that building has removed most of the lilies that once grew here.
Fire risk at the bay
The Sutherland bush fire plan says Grays Point-Gymea Bay faces a possible large fire from the forest to the west through Royal National Park, though there's been no significant fire there in 20 years. It lists eight threatened ecological communities in the area.
Who owns the wires
Gymea is on Ausgrid's network. Never trim near a line yourself: SafeWork NSW's code says an ordinary person shouldn't cut branches that could come within 3 metres of one. Ring Ausgrid.
Tree jobs you can do yourself in Gymea
You can
- Rake up bark and leaf drop, and keep gutters clear before summer.
- Snip small branches you can reach with both feet on the ground, using secateurs or a pruning saw, after checking council's limits.
- Photograph the tree and measure the trunk at 500mm for the application.
- Keep the family and the car out from under a cracked or hanging limb.
Leave to an arborist
- Deadwooding or crown lifting on a tall Blackbutt or Stringybark.
- Any work near power lines, which is for crews Ausgrid authorises.
- Removals, once council has said yes.
- A written report if council asks about a risky tree.
Hiring an arborist in Gymea
We'd ask for pruning to the standard, not lopping. AS 4373-2007 names deadwooding, crown lifting and reduction pruning among its classes, and lists lopping as unacceptable, so that's a fair test of anyone who quotes. Near the bay, we'd also run the RFS 10/50 tool on the day before planning any clearing.