Empire Bay
Tree lopping in Empire Bay
Tree lopping, removal and stump grinding in Empire Bay, from the blocks beside Cockle Bay Nature Reserve to the bush edge.
Tree work in Empire Bay
Burnt bush on one side, a nature reserve on the other
The parks service lists fire records named for Pomona Road, on the bush edge of the suburb. They include prescribed burns in 1982-83, 2001 and 2011 and a wildfire of about 1.5 hectares in April 1986, so the bush there is a fire edge that is burnt on purpose.
On the water, Cockle Bay Nature Reserve is one of four reserves in Brisbane Water that the state's plan of management says play a significant role in preserving endangered ecological communities, seagrass beds and intertidal mudflats. Where a block backs onto it, the bush past the boundary is national park estate, so the job stays on the private side and nothing is dropped or dragged into the reserve.
Services in Empire Bay
Fire edge, reserve boundary and fig roots
Tree pruning
Deadwood, low limbs and leaf-filled gutters dealt with before summer on the blocks that face the bush.
Tree removal
Taken down in sections on the bush-edge blocks, with the timber chipped at the street.
Stump grinding
Ground out with the machine kept off the surface roots of the council's waterfront figs.
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.
Empire Bay questions
Two council figs and a schoolyard pine
Can a neighbour prune the fig on the waterfront?
No, it belongs to the council. The significant tree register the old Gosford City Council kept listed it as a council-owned Port Jackson fig on Sorrento Road and described it as a landmark for fishermen. Root cutting near it, or a limb hanging over a boundary, is raised with the council before any work.
What about the Hills fig in the reserve?
The same register listed a Hills fig in the waterfront reserve, owned by the council and graded for its landscape amenity. Its canopy and spreading roots are planned around when a tree on the next block is pruned or removed.
Does the pine at the school change jobs nearby?
It can. The register listed a Norfolk Island pine at Empire Bay Public School as the centre piece of the playground, and its height and exposure to wind are allowed for when a nearby job sets its drop zone and rigging.
