The two giant sequoias in St David’s Park have been removed a day ahead of schedule, wrapping up the felling of trees that had stood for almost nine decades.
Hobart City Council Acting Lord Mayor Zelinda Sherlock said the park has reopened in full, aside from a small fenced area around the remaining stumps.
Stump-grinding work is scheduled for next week.
“Staff are expected to finish raking and cleaning the site by the end of today [Friday],” she told Pulse.
The two sequoias were planted in 1937 to mark the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and had been part of the park’s landscape ever since.
The City of Hobart said the trees had been in decline since autumn last year and hadn’t responded to repeated treatment.
While the dead trees didn’t pose an immediate danger to the public, the council said their condition would have kept getting worse and become riskier over time if left standing.
The removal was described as a complex job, requiring a large team and specialist equipment to make sure the work was done safely.
“The timber has been safely stored, and the council will soon begin an expression-of-interest process to work out future uses for the wood,” Sherlock said.
Sherlock said community interest in the project had been strong.
“We look forward to hearing the public’s ideas on how the timber could be best used,” she said.
