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Ted Hoare, Senior Arborist at Centennial Parklands and Public Service Medal recipient, has this week celebrated his 30th anniversary maintaining the 15,000 trees across the Parklands.

A graduate of the Ryde TAFE School of Horticulture, Hoare has been an active and energetic member of the arboricultural team for three decades and has a weighty responsibility - given the trees are valued at more than $170 million.

Routinely seen working in his bright red socks, Hoare not only maintains a spectacular and complex tree collection, he has been instrumental in the development of an industry-recognised digital tree database that catalogues and tracks the life cycle of trees through laptop technology, and has recently experimented with the use of drone technology to monitor the Parklands’ tree canopies.

He explains “every tree has been surveyed, catalogued and is reviewed on a regular cycle.

“The importance of this is critical when you consider the importance of maintaining such a large tree population in such a high-visitation area.”

“We receive over 20 million visits a year to Centennial Parklands, and it is my team’s responsibility to ensure trees are healthy, safe and don’t pose a safety risk to visitors.”

Ted’s priority has also included education – helping to develop the next generation of arborists, and also running public tours.

“I’ve been leading an education program link-up with TAFE NSW (Ryde Campus) offering tree surgery students invaluable practical experience here in the Parklands.”

“About 25 students are based at the Parklands on certain days each semester, and visitors can often see these students in high visibility vests scaling trees to practice deadwooding and branch inspections.”

“It is also important to ensure we educate the public on trees, tree species and the challenges of managing trees in public spaces, so I’ve been delighted to conduct regular tree tours, which have been well received.”

Centennial Parklands next Tree Tour is on 1st February 2015.

Centennial Parklands is an industry-leader in environmental and asset management having received multiple industry awards over recent months, including a Green Flag Award, a national Facilities Management Award and is currently awaiting international environmental certification for its management practices.

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