There seems to be a growing number of trees that are being illegally chopped down in protected areas in Springfield.
Recently, Councillor Sheila Ireland posted on her Facebook page photos of chopped down ironbark trees at the White Rock Spring Mountain Conservation Estate. Along with the photos, she captioned them with the Ipswich City Council’s penalty for the illegal act and urged anyone with information to contact the council.
Prior to that discovery, two ironbark trees were spotted chopped down inside the conservation estate. They were discovered by Luise Manning, the president of the Springfield Lakes Nature Care Group. According to Mr Manning, whoever did that have also illegally entered the estate because of the broken lock that they found.
Ms Manning believed that the trees might have been used for firewood. She was upset about what happened considering that she and her group have worked hard protecting these trees and even put up nesting boxes on some of the trees there for the wildlife.
The council protects trees and vegetation on private lands to preserve the character, amenity, biodiversity, historical and ecological values of the city. In order to chop down a tree within a private land, the individual must first obtain an approval from the council and certain factors will have to be considered before the council gives their seal of approval.
With no leads yet as to who is doing this, the council urges anyone with information to contact them at 3810 6666.