FAQs

The City is planting an Urban Forest to provide significant environmental, social and economic benefits to the community and environment. These include:

Environmental benefits

• Reduces urban heat island effect
• Reduction in ground water use
• Improve air and water quality
• Improve drainage and and filter stormwater
• Reduce soil erosion and improve soil profile
• Improve soil quality and rehabilitation of contaminated soils
• Creates windbreaks and cool, shaded spaces for flora & fauna to thrive
• Storage of carbon and production of oxygen
• Provides places for native fauna to move through, forage and nest
• Supports local ecology and biodiversity

Social benefits

• Encourages interaction and contact with nature
• Improves health and wellbeing
• Reduces stress and encourages mental stimulation
• Provides cool, shady spots to sit and relax
• Provides opportunity for social bonding and interaction
• Encourages ownership and involvement 
• Creates a sense of place, identity and purpose
• Provides opportunity for learning ad education
• Connection to Country and heritage

Economic benefits

• Social cohesion
• Encourages a healthy, engaged community
• Increased visual aesthetic and neighbourhood desirability
• Increase in property value
• Reduces energy and water consumption
• Reduces maintenance requirement and costs
• Increases longevity of infrastructure 

The physical location of the site presents good opportunity to successfully implement the Urban Forest without too much disruption to the surrounding public open space and surrounding residents by working with the existing edges of Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary and Memorial Drive, and creating smooth transitions into the site from the carpark at King William Street and the fenced dog exercise area to the south while also maintaining connectivity through the site during the works. This site has also been chosen for an Urban Forest as it aligns well with a variety of plans, policies and commitments the City has made in recent times. These include the following:

• Urban Forest Policy
  On 28 June 2022, Council resolved to amend its urban forest canopy target from an aspirational target of 20% coverage by 2025 to a specific target of 20% coverage by 2030. This project aligns with the City’s Urban Forest policy as a site that will see a significant boost in trees numbers and canopy coverage in order to meet those tree canopy targets.
• Environmental Liveability Framework
  The Environment and Liveability Framework (ELF) provides direction for a sustainable future in the City of Bayswater. The Urban Forest has been chosen as it aligns seamlessly with the vision of the ELF as it sets out to revegetate and restore natural areas to improve biodiversity and connectivity of natural areas by creating 'NatureLinks' through the City of Bayswater and by committing to planting one million trees in the City between now and 2050.
• Waterwise Bayswater
  The City is committed to reducing groundwater use by 10% by 2030 and the Urban Forest provides a great site to demonstrate and fulfil this commitment on a large scale. The site presents an excellent opportunity to convert an area of relatively under-utilised irrigated grassland, in relation to the expansive areas throughout the wider Riverside Gardens precinct, into an Urban Forest without impacting the amount of open grassland available for all to freely enjoy. To put it into context, the Urban Forest site has approximately 3Ha of irrigated lawn out of a total of over 18Ha throughout the entirety of Riverside Gardens. The project will also allow for stringent monitoring, trialling new and innovative ways to preserve water, as well as develop community knowledge and understanding of sustainable watering principles that can be instilled in their own backyard practices.
• Reconciliation Action Plan
  The site is in close proximity to the Derbal Yerrigan or Swan River, which holds immense significance culturally, traditionally and as resource to Whadjuk people and all Noongar people. This significance of the site adds a critical layer to the project and will become a key component that will inform and guide the design of the site, as well as aligning with the City's Reconciliation Action Plan in strengthening the City's Connection to Country.
• Access and Inclusion Plan
  Riverside Gardens is a destination park and the City's premier open space. It attracts people from far and wide for many different uses. A key focus of the Urban Forest is to provide equal opportunity as a space that is accessible to all and gives people a sense of inclusion. The Urban Forest will complement the busy nature of Riverside Gardens by creating a quiet passive nature corridor where people can still move through as normal but also provide an opportunity to move a bit slower, pause and reflect.
• Public Health and Wellbeing Plan
  Like many parks throughout the Perth area, Riverside Gardens is a former landfill site. In line with the City's Public Health and Wellbeing plan, the Urban Forest project will address risk factors associated with contaminated sites and remediation in accordance with the Contaminated Sites Act 2003 and in collaboration with DWER to determine the best method for rehabilitation of the site. Currently the City's approach for the Urban Forest will be to rehabilitate through revegetation and remediating the soil, as well as establishing a Contaminated Soils Management Plan and continue to undertake regular monitoring of the site.

The analysis focused on site context, landscape character, infrastructure and amenity condition assessment, understanding of existing heritage elements, in addition to identifying the opportunities and constraints and the non-negotiables of the project.

The Preliminary Engagement phase included initial engagement and consultation with various key external stakeholders, and internal City departments.

• Redgum Brook, Byford - Emerge Associates
  The site is located on a former intensive agricultural land at the base of the Darling escarpment with some remnant vegetation and an existing degraded creek line as the features of the existing landscape. The aim of the project was to delicately restore the creek line and foreshore while providing a valuable amenity to local residents.

• Eliza Ponds, Coogee - Emerge Associates
  The Eliza Ponds Estate development is located on the former Watsonia smallgoods factory and dairy. The redevelopment of what was once an industrial site stands as an outstanding example of how a site can be regenerated whilst preserving local history and paying homage to its inherent values. The formerly contaminated site was remediated and the management approach for groundwater, surface water, and design of the open spaces complemented its remediation.

• Osprey Waters, Mandurah - Emerge Associates
  This project is located on low lying land with a high water table, resulting in specific landscape design to cater for water inundation. Treatment of stormwater through nutrient stripping is undertaken prior to it infiltrating into the groundwater system. Foreshore path systems and revegetation have been implemented within the environmentally sensitive estuary interface within the development. Landscape buffers to major roads that are responsive to the site and ongoing community consultation have provided a successful landscape outcome.

The Urban Forest will be an on-lead area for dogs. The larger surrounding area of Riverside Gardens south of the fenced dog area and west of Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary will remain as off-lead areas*. 

*Dogs are to be on-lead at all times within 20m of a playground and 5m of a carpark. Please refer to the City's Dog Exercise Areas on the City's website.

Once complete and as it continues to establish and grow, the Urban Forest will likely see an increase in native fauna inhabitants such as birds, reptiles, insects, arachnids and amphibians. In order to protect the precious new inhabitants of the Urban Forest, as well as the existing native fauna of Bird Sanctuary and surrounds that may venture into and through the Urban Forest, dogs will be required to be on-lead at all times. 

Image: Grey-Fantail (C) Shane-Baker-2018-birdlifephotography.org.au.jpg 

Our canine friends are still welcome to enjoy the shady paths, trails and picnic nodes within the Urban Forest but must be kept on a lead at all times and controlled by their owners. New signage will be installed to clearly outline the on-lead requirements as well as provisions for dogs to get a drink and for owners to collect and dispose of their dog's waste.

As the project develops, the tree species list will be refined and expanded to ensure suitable species are included and endemic species are prioritised. Below is the current tree species allocated for the project:

• Acacia saligna - Coojong*/Golden Wreath Wattle
• Banksia grandis - Mungitch/Bull Banksia
• Banksia ilicifolia - Holly-leaved Banksia
• Banksia littoralis - Pungura/Swamp Banksia
• Banksia menziesii - Bulgalla/Firewood Banksia
• Banksia prionotes - Manyret/Acorn Banksia
• Corymbia calophylla - Marri/Red Gum
• Eucalyptus marginata - Jarrah/Swan River Mahogany
• Eucalyptus todtiana - Dwutta/Blackbutt
• Eucayptus rudis - Moitch/Flooded Gum
• Melaleuca preissiana - Modong/Stout paperbark
• Melaleuca rhaphiophyla - Bibool/Swamp paperbark

*There can be many traditional names for certain types of trees and the spelling often varies. 

Construction is being planned for mid-2024 pending completion of Stage 1 (Design) and confirmation of construction staging and costs.

The Urban Forest project has received both State and Federal funding. The City's partnership with Greening Australia will also enable the project to seek further funding to ensure the Urban Forest can be implemented to the highest possible standard for the community and the environment. 

The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries has provided a funding commitment of $1,000,000 to assist the City in delivering the project, and the Federal Government via Patrick Gorman, Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia and Federal Member for Perth, on behalf of Anthony Albanese and the Labor team, has invested $200,000 in to the project. 

The City is also in the process of securing a grant through the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation as part of the Gnangara Waterwise Councils Grants Program which is a joint initiative between DWER and Water Corporation that focuses on the local governments with large groundwater entitlements that are also most at risk of the urban heat island effect.