Tamworth chosen as 'inspiring' example of green-thumbed sustainability

The city's Urban Street Tree Advisory Committee (USTAC) has been nominated for an award at the 2023 Sustainable Communities Tidy Towns Awards and invited to present a case study on the greening and cooling of Tamworth.

The committee, formed four years ago by Tamworth Regional Council, partners with local groups to organise and fund tree-planting efforts, successfully growing tens of thousands of trees across the region.

Awards host Keep Australia Beautiful NSW said USTAC's progress in greening and cooling Tamworth is an "inspiring sustainable project" for other towns to follow.

At Tamworth council's most recent meeting, councillors voted to send USTAC chair Helen Tickle to represent Tamworth Regional Council at the awards ceremony in Scone from November 3 to November 5.

"She's absolutely the appropriate person to attend these awards. She's a great advocate for what's going on in this city for many years with regards to beautification, tree planting programs, and sustainable communities," Cr Bede Burke said at the meeting.

While the fourth-term councillor has a decorated career in local government, greening the region has been a central part of Cr Tickle's living legacy.

She told the Leader the UTSAC is honoured to receive the award nod, but most of all she's proud of the broader community for supporting the group's work.

"Community engagement has been an important part of our strategy, and numerous groups and individuals have now taken ownership and responsibility for various public places including plantings along city entrances, parks, roads, and residential and commercial subdivisions," Cr Tickle said.

"The success of this group can be attributed to the drive, passion, and local knowledge from within the group and the community."

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She said education has been an "important element" in the committee's success, teaching the community how to select the right tree species for Tamworth's climate.

About 95 per cent of the trees UTSAC has helped plant are native species.

"It's probably more out in the Global Gateway Park, there's more than 12,000 natives planted out there already, so that's probably closer to 98 per cent native species," Cr Tickle said.

"In some spaces we plant other species just to add variety to the amenity, but it's predominantly natives."

She said the biggest challenge facing the group as it begins another season of tree planting is keeping the thousands of trees planted so far alive and well-maintained.

"Starting with the tube stock helps and then with the right maintenance we aim to achieve as close to a 100 per cent success rate as we can," she said.

The UTSAC also recently won an Australian Institute of Horticulture Award for Excellence for implementing a plan to increase the street tree canopy in the region to 40 per cent by 2040.

More information on council's tree planting and management can be found on the TRC website.

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