Regional Australia’s back yards and nature strips need more trees to combat extreme heat and make rural towns more livable, experts say.
Increasing shade cover in cities and towns can dramatically reduce surface temperatures and encourage walking and cycling. But as many metropolitan councils set ambitious tree canopy targets, budget constraints, fewer incentives and social attitudes mean some regional areas are lagging behind.
Dr Laurel Johnson from the University of Queensland says increasing tree canopy cover in regional towns is one of the few tools available to ameliorate extreme summer temperatures exacerbated by global heating.
“When there are more days over 40C, your tree canopy becomes really critical in cooling a township,” Johnson says. “We are sort of in tune with that phenomenon in more urbanised areas but regional towns don’t seem to be.”
Awnings and street trees provide shade and create a welcoming environment for pedestrians, Johnson says, but they are often confined to the high street. “If you then need to walk to another part of town, you’ll find yourself quickly exposed to the elements,” she says.
Johnson says the prioritisation of cars over public transport and pathways for pedestrians in many regional towns mean the benefits of street trees have not been fully realised.
“Regional towns are much more concerned with the quality of the bitumen,” Johnson says. “That will trump tree planting every time.”
More space, more resistance
Landscape restoration projects in regional areas can initially be met with strong community opposition, says Greening Australia Queensland program officer Freddy Herrera.
“You have this fightback of people thinking that you’re just going to make everything bush,” Herrera says. “Having been part of a regional community you understand it – it’s almost an attitude of: ‘We have always done it this way, why change?’”
Herrera says community consultation and a fire management plan were a vital part of getting approval for a project outside Gatton in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, where the not-for-profit planted native shrubs and trees along an eroded creek.
But he says the town does not have a broader strategy to increase the urban canopy.
“In rural areas you have more space [for trees] but you are fighting a bit of resistance,” Herrera says. “In the cities you have mostly positive attitudes but you are constricted by space.”
West of Gatton, on the Darling Downs, tree planting efforts have been mixed. The Toowoomba regional council has planted tens of thousands of trees on council land and distributed thousands more free tree vouchers to residents, resulting in an estimated 2% to 5% increase in the urban canopy since 2011.
In the neighbouring Western Downs regional council, 8,000 trees have been planted on kerbs since 2017 as part of an “adopt a tree” program.
But to the south, the Goondiwindi regional council said while it is “extremely proud” of its tree-lined streets, it doesn’t have a plan to increase its urban canopy. In the Southern Downs regional council there had been no effort to increase the number of trees until December 2023, when the council announced it had secured a $100k federal government grant to plant trees.
Prof Thomas Astell-Burt from the University of Wollongong says the percentage of tree canopy cover can vary widely between council areas.
In the Sydney suburb of Ryde, tree canopy has decreased from 40% to 33% in seven years due in part to a large number of subdivisions in the area. In the regional city of Wollongong, the council has set an ambitious target to increase urban canopy cover to 34% by 2037. It’s currently estimated at just 17%.
Astell-Burt says tree preservation is just as important as planting new trees, to avoid an overall decrease in canopy growth overtime. And he says the benefits go beyond shade: “Tree-lined streets present opportunities for serendipitous conversations with neighbours that in turn builds social capital, improves mental health and reduces loneliness.”
‘Easily a null issue’
Dr Jennifer Kent from the University of Sydney says many of the arguments for increasing urban tree canopy cover – namely the health benefits of regularly interacting with nature and parkland – are less persuasive in regional areas than in large cities because there is easier access to natural bushland.
“It’s always going to be a good thing to plant trees,” Kent says. “But regional areas are quite often really well endowed with public open spaces – I can see how from a policy perspective it’s slipped off the radar a bit.”
The layout of regional towns, with fewer buildings spaced further apart, also lessens the impact of urban heat islands, which have been a major driver of ambitious urban tree planting programs, Kent says.
It is also harder to persuade people to switch from cars to walking or cycling in regional towns, despite the shorter distances traversed, because the lack of traffic and availability of parking makes them the “perfect environment” for car dependency.
Ian Plowman, a former psychologist and social researcher, said land ballots conducted throughout the 20th century – where crown land was handed out to prospective farmers on the condition it was clearcut and productive – may also have shaped the perception of large-scale tree-planting projects in regional Australia.
“In regional areas, do people find trees appealing, or do they signal a loss of productivity?” he says.
