Treewatch

Treewatch is an Australian tree management company working the Great Ocean Road coast and a good deal of Victoria beyond it, based around Lorne and running since 1997. The work is led by qualified consulting arborists holding a Level 5 Diploma of Arboriculture, accredited by the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture and a member of the National Arborist Association. Their stated priority is caring for trees, with the climbing and cutting left to people trained and equipped to do it safely.

A large part of what Treewatch does sits on the consulting side. They carry out tree assessments at both large and small scale, development impact appraisal reports, risk assessment reports, vegetation assessments and arboricultural appraisals, through to root mapping reports and final certifications. This is the paperwork councils and planners ask for when a tree sits in the way of a build or has to be judged for safety.

On the ground, the crew handles tree removal, including emergency tree removals and confined-space removals where there is no room to drop a trunk cleanly. Tree pruning covers crown reduction and lifting, weight reduction, dead wooding and hanger removal, high pruning for clear wood, and line clearance around powered spans.

Past the standard cutting, Treewatch fits cable bracing to hold weak unions together, installs root barriers to keep roots away from footings and pipes, puts up possum guards, and runs elm maintenance for pest protection. There is a mulching and tree recycling service, and the business handles its own traffic management, from planning and signage to on-site control, for jobs that spill onto a road.

Home ground is the Great Ocean Road around Lorne, Aireys Inlet, Anglesea, Wye River, Torquay and Apollo Bay, along with Geelong and the Bellarine. From there the reach runs statewide, taking in Melbourne and its bayside suburbs, the Mornington Peninsula, Ballarat and the Goldfields, and the High Country towns north east.