Floods, Cyclones and Where is the Summer Shade?

At this time of writing T C (Tropical Cyclone) Carlos was sneaking down the North West coast, threatening townships and bringing heavy tropical rain to the Pilbara coast of Western Australia. By this coming weekend he could be anywhere. Meanwhile muddy floodwaters surged through the Greenough River and flowed out into the ocean, staining the sea for miles. Floods early in the week threaten to come again to the flats where the trees are bent and the men are straight. I interviewed the Arborist, Philip J. Frazee early in the week and due to the heat wave, old age and something else I can’t think of, accidently deleted the interview off the tape! Philip has strong credentials in all areas of trees and will provide us with a great story and advice on urban and home tree planting, management and care. One thing he shared with me is that trees can be managed for maximum value and minimum risk by implementing internationally recognized best practice. These standards can be obtained by contacting the Australia Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture, “Arboriculture Australia” P.O. Box 76 Edwardstown, South Australia, 5039. Or on line by e-mail enquiries@aboriculture.org.au In the stinking heat of the last few weeks people have looked for shade trees in parks, car parks, street verges along the beaches and anywhere they can find shade. The new housing developments that cram large brick block houses together leave little room to grow shade trees like the huge canopy of the Poinciana photographed growing in one older suburb. The little coral gums on streetscapes around Geraldton give colour and shade in the summer. While down on the Greenough checking out the floods, we photographed the 680 year old Red River Gum “Kurlayhi” giving shade to a young pony at the Greenough Pioneer Museum and spotted an old sheep keeping his cool. And also snapped the tourist’s best picture of the bent flooded gum down on the front flats. Before the white man came to this land, the aborigines sort the shade of the river gums up and down the watercourses all over Gondwanaland in the piercing heat. Back in the forties on the farm in Three Springs, in summer we kids would wander around under the shade of the gimlets and York gums, shooting twenty eight parrots with shanghais. They never flew away much, could have been because it was so hot or they just knew we could never hit them! You probably remember one time when there were plenty of trees around in the bush and in town. Phillip is keen on getting citizens on board into working our way back to that era by research and planting of thousands of trees.