Calga
Tree removal in Calga
Tree removal, stump grinding and pruning across Calga, from old orchard blocks on sandstone to houses with bush behind them.
Tree work in Calga
Sandstone ledges, old orchards and two October fires
When some of the land at Calga was opened up as homestead farms in 1931, it was described as gently sloping country with rocky sandstone ledges. Citrus orchards followed, though much of the ground was likely too steep, rough and sandy to farm any further. On ground like that, roots spread wide and shallow across the rock rather than down, so when a tree begins to tilt, the root plate gets as much attention as the trunk.
The bush here has a fire record as well. NPWS fire history records two wildfires named Calga in October 1988, one burnt entirely within the locality and the larger one about half within it. With fire on record that early in the season, dead trees and dead limbs close to the house are dealt with over winter rather than left until summer.
Services in Calga
Stone under stumps, ropes on slopes and clear gutters
Tree removal
Where the ground is too steep or rough for a heavy machine, the tree is dismantled from the top and lowered on ropes.
Stump grinding
Stumps on gently sloping country with rocky sandstone ledges ground down until the cutting wheel meets stone, and no deeper.
Tree pruning
Limbs hanging over the roof shortened, so leaves and loose bark stop collecting in gutters where a stray ember could land.
How it works
From the first message to a written quote
The council question is settled before any price, and nothing is booked until you have said yes to a quote in writing.
- 1
Tell us what the tree is doing
Where it stands, what it is close to and what you would like done about it.
- 2
A contractor comes to see it
A tree contractor who covers your suburb looks at the tree, the access and what is underneath it.
- 3
The council question is answered
Height, trunk size, distance from the house and the species decide whether a permit or an exemption applies.
- 4
You get it in writing
Scope, timber, stump and date on one page, and nothing is booked until you have said yes.
Calga questions
Fire a year later, and gums left hollow
Why is the base of a burnt gum tested first?
Because fire came back. The parks service also lists wildfires named Calga in September and October 1989, both of them wholly inside the locality, a year after the first two. A gum that has come through a fire can hide a scar or a hollow low on its trunk, so its base is tapped and probed for soft wood before a climber's weight goes on it.
Can a dead gum with hollows just come down?
Not always. A tree needed as habitat falls outside council's dead or dying exemption, and hollows in trunks or branches are part of what council counts as habitat. Fire is one of the ways an old gum turns hollow, so a dead one is checked for anything living in it before that exemption is used.
