Tree Department - Canberra

Tree Department is a consulting arborist practice serving Canberra and the surrounding region from a base at Lyneham. Established by Simon Howe in 2019, the practice works purely in advice and assessment. As the team puts it, "We do not carry out pruning or removal work so our opinions are unbiased." For property owners, developers, schools and government clients who want an independent read on a tree rather than a quote to cut it down, that separation is the whole point. The Canberra office is led by Sean Gentry, who brings 25 years in the arboriculture industry, including 15 years working as a climbing arborist before moving into consultancy in 2009.

The core of the work is tree risk assessment, carried out using either QTRA or TRAQ methodology. Sean is a Registered User of Quantified Tree Risk Assessment (QTRA) and holds the Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ) from the International Society of Arboriculture. Assessments are prepared for electricity providers, schools, and private and commercial landowners. Alongside the risk work the practice produces health and condition reports, preliminary tree assessments and pre-purchase due diligence reports for buyers who want to know what the trees on a block mean before they commit.

Development and planning work is the second strand. Tree Department prepares arboricultural impact assessments and tree management plans in accordance with AS4970-2009, handles planning reports and planning referrals, and lodges tree removal applications pursuant to the Tree Protection Act 2005 (ACT), legislation Sean knows in detail. Where building work is happening close to retained trees, the practice provides supervision and certification of construction works. Larger projects are supported with tree audits, tree inventories and data collection, GPS vegetation mapping and GIS mapping, along with environmental impact assessments and infrastructure impact assessments including environmental effects statements.

The practice also covers landscape heritage assessments, significant tree assessments and heritage impact statements, and undertakes tree root investigations and expert witness statements. Qualifications behind the Canberra work include a Graduate Certificate of Arboriculture from the University of Melbourne (Burnley, 2014) and a Diploma of Horticulture (Arboriculture) from NMIT (2009). The team is fully insured and holds construction industry induction credentials, and is rail industry worker certified for the Melbourne Metro, V/Line and ARTC networks. Simon Howe, who leads the Melbourne side of the practice, has worked in landscape management since 1997 and has appeared as an expert witness at VCAT, before Planning Panels Victoria, the Victorian Heritage Council and the Supreme Court of Victoria. Tree Department is a member of the Victorian Tree Industry Organisation and the International Society of Arboriculture.

From the Lyneham office, Tree Department covers the ACT and southern New South Wales, while the Melbourne arm services Melbourne and regional Victoria. Enquiries about Canberra work go to Sean Gentry on 0405 333 262 or [email protected]. The site states no set trading hours, so it is worth ringing or emailing to arrange an assessment. For anyone weighing up a tree in the ACT, whether the question is risk, a development application, a heritage matter or a removal application under the Tree Protection Act, Tree Department offers an independent opinion from a consultant with no cutting work to win from the outcome.