Sentinel Tree Care

Sentinel Tree Care has been working in the Byron Bay shire since 2011. Director Nicholas Sanderson runs it as a qualified arboricultural company rather than a lopping outfit, and work is carried out to AS 4373-2007, the Australian Standard for the pruning of amenity trees. The business is a member of both Arboriculture Australia and the Queensland Arboricultural Association.

Expert pruning is the core service, covering thinning, shaping and dead wooding on established trees. A job here starts from what the tree needs rather than how much can come off, which is the practical difference that working to the standard makes. Tree removal is done where a tree is past keeping, and wood chipping and stump grinding clear up what is left behind. Palm maintenance, both cleaning and removal, is a line of its own and steady work along this stretch of coast.

What sets Sentinel apart from most tree companies is the wildlife and habitat creation work. The crew installs and monitors nest boxes for private landholders, commercial sites and landcare groups across the Northern Rivers, putting false hollows back into places where the old trees that once held them have gone. The boxes are aimed at owls, owlet nightjars, rosellas and galahs, possums, sugar gliders and antechinus, and the company reports wildlife uptake in as little as three months.

The other half of the business is broader vegetation work: vegetation management including utility corridors, roadside corridor widening, and rural property maintenance on acreage. Storm damage remediation covers the aftermath of the weather this region regularly cops, and there is an emergency contact for owners left with a tree down or a limb hanging. Sentinel also offers tree lighting design, an unusual line for a tree company, which treats a mature tree as a feature to be lit rather than a problem to be cut.

Sentinel carries public liability cover up to 10 million dollars, with employees, contractors, equipment and vehicles insured and maintained. Work is taken across Byron Bay, Mullumbimby, Bangalow, Federal, Ballina, Pearces Creek and Lismore. Phone 0421 435 620 or email [email protected] to book a quote.