New smartphone technology is helping Council’s Open Spaces team care for thousands of trees around the Ashburton District.

An app developed by Council’s IT team will be used to record the individual histories of the trees and any arborist work carried out.

Group Manager of Infrastructure and Open Spaces Neil McCann said the app currently held GPS locations of 4246 street trees and 8268 trees in parks and cemeteries.

“Trees can be easily added, or marked as removed, and the data is really important in gathering easily accessible information about the health or safety of trees under council care. Staff can see photos of the tree, record wind damage, or age-related issues in real time.

“In the past we have relied on the institutional knowledge of staff and not so many documents to record our tree management, so we’ve reacted to issues or problems rather than proactively programmed maintenance.

“The idea of this new tool is that we will be able to build a history of the trees and the potential risks they pose through ill-health or age.”

The initial phase of work involves using GPS to mark locations of trees and giving each one an assessment onsite. The information is then populated onto the app.

“We have a lot of trees, and we get a lot of questions from the public when we prune them or remove them. We are finding that some of our trees are over-mature, and they are likely to be original plantings, but they are vulnerable to our strong winds like any other tree,” Mr McCann said.

“If we are removing a tree, there is always a very good reason and we usually replant with a different species, in many cases more suited to the spot.”

He said the many trees in the Ashburton Domain had unique histories, some told on plaques installed at their base.

“One of the oldest trees in the domain is a European Beech tree planted in 1910 to commemorate Florence Nightingale. We also have quite a lot of trees planted in memory of members of the Royal family, including Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth II.

“There’s also a Peace Oak planted in 1919 to mark the end of World War One. If you take time to wander around the domain and the Royal Lawn area, you’ll learn about some historically significant occasions.”