Perth Voice Interactive

FOR Szuszanna Herenyi it was like silent spring all over again. When the Stirling resident moved in 16 years ago, one of the joys in her life was watching and listening to birds early in the morning.

Then her neighbours started chopping down their trees, complaining about the hassle of cleaning up fallen leaves.

Now, one of those neighbours hasn’t a single tree.

“It got quieter,” Ms Herenyi says.

“I would like to hear the birds sing again,”

Then she noticed the neighbourhood was getting hotter.

“I like walking my dog once or twice a day, but there are parts where there is no shade at all,” she told the Voice.

The final straw came when a few neighbours replaced lawns with paving and concrete.

Ms Herenyi decided it was time to try to turn back the tide, so she signed up for the Stirling city council’s community tree planting program.

Last year, along with 20 other volunteers, she helped plant 260 trees throughout the municipality and is back again for this year’s event in May, when 50 vollies are expected.

“I would like to hear the birds sing again,” she says. “Everything has gotten more artificial, and I think people are just too busy to stop and listen.”

Ms Herenyi also blames WA planners for allowing nature to disappear from the city, saying it’s a victim of the rush to cope with Perth’s burgeoning population

“They take out one old house and put in three new ones, and there is no room for trees any more.”

Council tree officer Elena Walsh-Negus says trees bring many benefits: international research shows green streets encourage people out of their houses more, and the ambience reduces stress and improves mental health.

Trees are also the cheapest, most effective way of combatting the “heat island effect” of concreted suburbs.

UWA research also shows green, leafy streets increase real estate values.

Ms Walsh-Negus says while the program involves planting both natives and exotic species, it’s the locals who are the most effective at bringing birds back.

Anyone interested in the program can sign up at http://www.stirling.wa.gov.au/trees.

by CASPER JUST