OpinionAugust 13, 2026 — 12:07pmIt wasn’t that long ago that the cackling cacophony of belly-laughing kookaburras and the mournful shrieks of Carnaby’s cockatoos filled the skies over Perth.While the Carnaby’s no longer blacken the horizon – because urban sprawl and development have destroyed the city’s tree canopy – if you look closely, you might spot a few zigzagging past suburban McMansions in search of a small green patch to land on.Carnaby’s cockatoos rely on the pine resource. Marta Pascual JuanolaAs for the kookaburras, they abandoned their suburban lifestyles for the bush once Perth’s urban forests began to vanish, as Sandgropers became seduced by the cherished Australian dream of owning a quarter-acre block.Thanks to our insatiable thirst for living on a big patch of dirt, Perth has the lowest tree canopy of all Australia’s capital cities, at a mere 16 per cent.Yet, ironically, nothing ignites a passionate rage in Sandgropers more than the prospect of trees at their local park ending up in the woodchipper.While only a handful of residents rallied in the freezing cold in Beaconsfield on Wednesday morning to protest at the removal of 26 trees, including several majestic Norfolk pines, to make way for a junior footy oval, hundreds took to social media to vent their outrage.The cutting down of the miniature urban forest is part of the City of Fremantle’s Hilton Park Precinct Masterplan, approved by the council back in 2024.The council said the vegetation had to be removed because there was asbestos in the soil, but late on Wednesday, the tree felling was put on hold after community anger.Fremantle Mayor Ben Lawler said, going forward, he would ask staff for an estimate of how many trees could be lost, so ratepayers could weigh up whether they supported the proposal.“Things like changing mitigation to not be measured by simply ‘planting 61 new trees’ but instead ensure success looks like 61 new trees surviving and growing into mature trees,” he said.Only last month, the same council backflipped on its plan to chop down two 118-old Norfolk Pines to make way for a make way for pedestrian crossings in South Fremantle after the local community rallied to save the trees.Unusual for a municipality once dubbed the “green council”.But Fremantle isn’t the only council sharpening its axe.He said WA urgently required a stronger metro-wide tree and bushland protection plan along with better laws and regulations to protect mature trees on privately owned land.Pettitt said Perth’s biggest local government, Stirling, had more than 1.2 million square metres of tree canopy destroyed because of development.“It’s also time for Perth to get planting,” he told this masthead.“The largely treeless outer suburbs of Perth’s expansive metro area especially need the right planning changes and incentives to see millions of new trees planted in backyards and on public land, including streets and parks.“In short, Perth needs regreening.”To be fair, several Perth councils, including Fremantle and Melville, are doing their best to preserve our dwindling urban forest by developing their own strategies to protect significant trees on private land.In July, the Town of Mosman Park introduced a new policy: ratepayers wanting to remove or significantly prune a regulated tree on their property must now apply for development approval first.“We simply can’t plant our way out of this problem.”WA Tree Canopy Advocates chair Sarah AllchurchFellow western suburbs council Cottesloe is also looking at a similar plan to protect significant trees on private land.And WA Labor has promised to green up our fair city and almost double Perth’s tree canopy from 16 to 30 per cent by 2040.“We need more homes and more tree canopy, and WA’s planning system should deliver both,” she said.“Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide already have planning rules that protect mature trees as cities grow, so why not here?“If the government wants greater subdivision and infill, the new R-Codes must include mature tree retention and space to grow new ones.“We simply can’t plant our way out of this problem.”From our partners