Whitehorse City Council values the important contribution of trees and vegetation in making the municipality a vibrant place to live, work and visit.
An 'Urban forest' includes trees, shrubs and groundcovers along with the soil and water they depend on within both public and private land. It provides several benefits including:
- Shading and cooling during summer
- Water retention reducing the risk of flooding
- Improved community connectedness and wellbeing
Urban Forest Strategy
Council’s endorsed Urban Forest Strategy sets out the actions we will take to increase tree canopy cover in Whitehorse.
Tree canopy cover is the amount of trees covering the ground when viewed from above. Reaching our targets and delivering on our actions involves working collectively throughout Council, with external organisations and alongside the community.
The strategy aims to achieve canopy cover of 30% in Whitehorse by 2050.
Vision and Objectives
The strategy’s vision is ‘a diverse, healthy and resilient urban forest’ and it outlines five key objectives:
- Protect the urban forest across private and public land
- Expand the urban forest and adapt to climate change
- Enhance biodiversity
- Build community capacity to learn from each other, protect and enhance the urban forest
- Build on Council's knowledge base
See what's happening to enhance and improve our urban forest
Our Urban Forest Dashboard
We’ve been working on an interactive dashboard to provide the community access to information on our trees. Visit the dashboard to find out more on the trees and works within the City of Whitehorse.
National Tree Day 2025
In 2025, Council planted in Wurundjeri Walk in Blackburn South. Find out more about National Tree Day and view the comparison of our 2023 and 2024 efforts to increase canopy cover and vegetation in our green corridors.
Growing a greener future at St James Primary School
St James Primary School students recently joined the Vermont Secondary College Eco Club, council's Environmental Education team and volunteers to plant 220 indigenous plants.
Council Uses Lidar to Monitor Canopy Cover
Measuring our tree canopy cover is an important part of monitoring our urban forest, mitigating climate change, and improving biodiversity. Find out how we used lidar to monitor canopy cover.
Urban Forest and Integrated Water Management Strategies – Progress Update 2025
Since the endorsement of both our Urban Forest Strategy (UFS) and Integrated Water Management Strategy (IWMS) we have been implementing Action Plans and in November provided an update to Council on the progress to date.
Biodiversity Blitz 2025
During September, Whitehorse City Council celebrated Biodiversity Month by partnering with several of our neighbouring councils to host the Biodiversity Blitz. The competition runs between all participating councils to see who can record the most species.
Interim extension to SL09
One of Council’s highest priorities is to protect the urban forest on both private and public land. Read the latest news on (SL09) tree controls.
Celebrating Children’s Week with ‘Nature Play’ at Blackburn Lake Sanctuary
Blackburn Lake Sanctuary came alive with laughter, curiosity, and exploration as families gathered for Nature Play, a special event celebrating Children’s Week in October.