Despite Wollongong Council planting hundreds of thousands of new trees in recent years, two leading advocates for a native tree planting blitz in our suburbs have called for more to be done to prepare the city for future global warming.
While praising Council for its greening policy, the co-founders of Growing Illawarra Natives, Emma Rooksby and Leon Fuller, believe there needs to be a further increase in plantings and more reporting to keep the community updated on progress against the 2017 Urban Greening Strategy.
Emma told a recent meeting of Neighbourhood Forum 5 that, eight years after the launch of the Greening Strategy, "It's time for an update."
More tall trees are needed
"We are facing a climate crisis; an urban heating crisis. We need to accelerate greening of our city, including the planting of many more tall trees to provide greater shade," Emma said.
"The University of Wollongong is a classic example of how extensive urban native greening can work. It was planted in the 1970s and it's growing beautifully."
Emma called on Council to identify large areas of land within the LGA that can be extensively planted.
"And we'd like to see more opportunities for communities to work together with Council to increase the greening of the city."
Emma said simple measures by Council, such as planting larger trees along footpaths and cycleways where there aren't overhead powerlines, just makes good sense.
An ambition to recreate 'the garden of NSW'
Leon Fuller, the author of the popular book Wollongong's Native Trees, has a bold ambition for the region.
"I'd like to see the return of the Illawarra to be 'the garden of NSW', which is what it was once called," Leon said. "And instead of more jacarandas being planted, let's get more native plants of the region into the ground."
He and Emma have a shared vision to see Wollongong become "a rainforest city ... but that means there's a lot of work to be done."
In response, Wollongong City Council says it remains committed to its Urban Greening Strategy, which has seen more than 440,000 trees planted on Council land since its adoption in 2017.
Majority of trees are local natives
"More than 85 per cent of trees planted are local native species, and our Greenplan Nursery has distributed more than 175,000 local natives to the community for planting," a spokesperson said. "We offer a range of local natives, and we are currently trialling six further species as street trees in 2025.
"Since the adoption of the Strategy, we have had an overall increase in canopy of 3.6 per cent, while identifying high-need suburbs such as Primbee (12.7%), Cringila (8.9%) and Port Kembla (6.1%) have experienced even greater increases.
"The Strategy holds a preference for local native plantings, however, in urban environments we must consider adaptability to poor soils, nutrient compaction and composition, ease of maintenance around infrastructure, and ability to withstand damage.
"In some instances, some non-local natives and exotics are better proven accounting for these factors."
Council reports formally on the progress of the Urban Greening Program through its Annual Report.
To find out more, visit the website at www.growingillawarranatives.