Saratoga
Tree lopping in Saratoga
Tree lopping, pruning and removal in Saratoga, where the foreshore wetlands hold a number of protected mangrove trees.
Tree work in Saratoga
Grey mangroves the state protects
Grey mangroves fringe the Saratoga foreshore. In 2006 Gosford City Council said its new mangrove boardwalk, part of the Saratoga Recreation Area and Wetland Plan of Management, runs through 90 metres of grey mangroves. The RFS 10/50 code does not allow mangroves to be cleared, even on a block where the code otherwise applies.
Damage to them is investigated. In August 2021 Fisheries officers looked into vandalism in the Saratoga wetlands, where they found a number of protected mangrove trees had been harmed, along with casuarinas and saltmarsh. On the wetland edge those casuarinas and the saltmarsh are checked before anything is cut or dragged across them.
Services in Saratoga
Mangrove edges and old gardens
Tree pruning
Waterfront trees pruned with each cut branch lowered and carried out, none of it dropped into the mangroves.
Tree removal
Garden trees taken down in sections once the heritage and permit questions are answered.
Stump grinding
Ground out well back from the root plate of any big old fig and from the wetland edge.
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.
Saratoga questions
A century-old fig and a heritage garden
Can a registered fig on private land be pruned?
Once the rules are checked. Saratoga has a privately owned Port Jackson fig over 100 years old on Gosford City Council's register of significant trees, and a registered tree on a private block is checked against the register and the permit rules before any pruning. A fig that old spreads a wide, shallow root plate, so machines, digging and stump grinding stay well clear of it.
What about trees in a heritage-listed garden?
They belong to the house's setting. One late Federation residence in the suburb is on the State Heritage Register, in landscaped grounds its listing calls integral to that setting, and some citrus trees survive on the property. Work on trees in grounds like those needs Heritage Act approval unless a standard exemption covers it, and the council's own exemptions are not available for a heritage item.
