ABSTRACT
Street and park trees are essential public assets that require public funds to install and maintain. Unlike most other public assets, the value of an established tree is greater than the cost to replace it. Large, mature trees provide significantly more amenity and value to the community than saplings planted to replace them. To address this, tree valuation methods are being used more commonly by Australian Councils to help to balance management decisions involving trees. This paper presents a council approach to tree amenity valuation, and introduces the Minimum Industry Standard method developed by Arboriculture Australia Ltd and the New Zealand Arboricultural Association in consultation with their many collaborators across the national arboriculture communities in both countries.
