Adelaide's shrinking tree canopy will be the subject of a new parliamentary inquiry, with environmental groups set to push for stronger protections.
The parliamentary inquiry follows comparison data from aerial imaging company Nearmap, released earlier this year, which showed that most of Adelaide's residential suburbs have significantly less tree coverage than they did 10 years ago.
State Labor MP Jayne Stinson will chair the inquiry and said there was an "urgent" need to address Adelaide's tree loss.
"There's 75,000 trees lost just in Adelaide each year and that's a pretty devastating figure," Ms Stinson said.
"We can't get to a situation where so many trees are gone because it seriously impacts our way of life."
The inquiry has been welcomed by environmental groups, including the Conservation Council SA.
Conservation Council SA tree campaigner Joanna Wells said she intended to put forward a strong case for substantial tree protection reform.
"In terms of the states that protect trees on private property, South Australia is way down the bottom of the list," Ms Wells said.
"We'd love to see many of those exemptions for developers removed."
Rule leading to trees being felled
In South Australia, a tree within 10 metres of a property can be removed without approval and significant trees can be cut down if found to be in the way of a proposed development that is deemed "reasonable or expected".
The 10-metre rule, brought in under the Labor government before this one, is likely to spell the end of one of the largest trees in North Plympton.
That lemon-scented gum is expected to be cut down to make way for townhouses, which is currently legal because of the tree's proximity to a house, even though that building is set to be demolished.
Local resident YiZhong Zhuang rides his bike past the tree every day and says he would be "incredibly upset" to see it go.
"It makes no sense that such a beautiful tree could just be cut down like that," Mr Zhuang said.
Judith Fuller has lived in North Plympton for more than 30 years and said the original owners of the property had built their house around the tree to ensure it could stay.
Ms Fuller said big trees were "disappearing" from her suburb.
"A pine tree was also recently removed in the next street over," she said.
"One of my neighbours said to me that night when the birds returned they had nowhere to go, so they just flew in circles looking for their home."
The state's tree laws have even become a selling point for developers, with a real estate advertisement for the same property in 2021 including the words: "Note: The tree is a lemon scented gum and does not need approval to remove being located within 10m of the home."
Trees being undervalued
To combat the ongoing tree loss, the state's planning commission has introduced a requirement for developers to plant one tree in all new housing developments across metropolitan Adelaide.
But there are some exemptions for developers where, instead of planting a tree, they can pay between $300 and $1,200 into an offset fund.
Tom Morrison founded a conservation group called 20-Metre Trees, which is named after how a close a tree can be to a building and be felled without needing development approval in a bushfire-prone area.
He said the figures did not add up.
"That doesn't at all reflect the value that tree will present to private land," Mr Morrison said.
"The State Planning Commission itself valued a typical tree as worth more than $3,000."
Mr Morrison said established trees were "priceless".
"They provide physical health benefits and mental health benefits," he said.
"They play a really critical role in cooling the urban environment and Adelaide already has issues with urban-heat-island effect."
Inquiry looking into solutions
Ms Stinson — whose electorate includes North Plympton and other parts of south-west Adelaide — said legislative and regulatory changes to improve tree coverage were expected to be on the table at the inquiry.
"It's really not sufficient for us to cut down one tree and just say you can plant another," she said.
"There's got to be better ways to construct new housing that considers the incredible importance of our mature trees."
The inquiry will also explore multiple options to improve the resilience of Adelaide's urban forest, including planting more-resilient species of trees that are able to withstand a warming climate.
"This inquiry is looking at practical measures and innovative new solutions to be able to make sure that we can grow more trees and keep the fantastic tree coverage we've got," Ms Stinson said.
"That includes power cable bundling so we don't have to prune trees so heavily and using porous bitumen so that trees and roads can better coexist."
Public submissions to the committee open on Friday.
The committee is expected to sit for between six and nine months.
