A green air conditioning system, a filter for carbon emissions, a playground for children and a home for wildlife - the humble street tree does it all.
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But environmentalists in Dubbo say the local council takes these natural wonders for granted.
"Council doesn't do enough to protect our large canopy trees - the technology is well and truly available and they need to use it, it's their responsibility," Barbara Sutherland, from Save Our Street Trees, told the Daily Liberal.
![Barbara Sutherland, Di Clifford, Amanda Pepennel and Peter Duggan (back) with Jill Cross-Antony and Flynn and Sean Duggan (front). Picture by Amy McIntyre Barbara Sutherland, Di Clifford, Amanda Pepennel and Peter Duggan (back) with Jill Cross-Antony and Flynn and Sean Duggan (front). Picture by Amy McIntyre](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/137578502/ea4e35ab-ff01-4f79-96eb-2729e9430fef.JPG/r0_0_8256_5504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"The benefits to people, bird life and the environment, the whole community in general, is indisputable."
The Dubbo Regional Council currently has no policies in place protecting trees on private land - unless they are specifically listed on a register of significant trees - and no requirement for trees to be planted in their place if they are removed.
Trees may be listed as significant if they are part of a heritage precinct, have historic or Indigenous cultural significance, are an endangered species or provide crucial wildlife habitat.
While a Cape Chestnut and Bunya Bunya Pine at 63 Tamworth street are considered significant and protected, a giant eucalypt on the verge just up the road has no such protection.
Save Our Street Trees thinks this needs to change.
"It takes generations to grow a tree of this calibre and it is stunningly healthy," Ms Sutherland said.
In nearby Orange, a much more wide-reaching council tree protection order prohibits the pruning, cutting down or "wilful destruction" of any tree on a list of protected species or with a trunk size greater than 300 millimetres.
Such a policy would keep Dubbo's streets cooler as summers get hotter, Ms Sutherand argues.
"We know the climate is changing and we also know that we live in the hottest, driest, large regional LGA - but if you compare us to Orange, which isn't as hot, we're far behind," she said.
![Save Our Street Trees says this large tree on Tamworth Street is under threat from council's current policies. Picture by Amy McIntyre Save Our Street Trees says this large tree on Tamworth Street is under threat from council's current policies. Picture by Amy McIntyre](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/137578502/75817ac3-c93b-4d7d-8919-67b81e4eeac9.JPG/r0_0_8256_5504_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"They have had policies for years to protect their tree canopy but we have a council that has no ability to look at green infrastructure as well as grey infrastructure and recognise the value with our changing climate."
In the lead up to National Tree Day on Sunday, July 30, Save Our Street Trees are asking council to branch out their tree protection policies.
"We're calling on the council to create a tree preservation order that takes us from being the worst of any regional LGA to actually trying," Ms Sutherland said.
"It won't be easy because we're thirty years behind the eight ball - but if we start somewhere and the council takes their responsibility seriously in relation to this, we can make a difference for our future generations.
No-body benefits from a tree you plant now, but everybody benefits from the mature tree that you've got that you keep."
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