Moffat Beach
Tree removal in Moffat Beach
Tree pruning, removal and storm clean-ups in Moffat Beach, from the blocks facing the foreshore pines to the streets and yards behind them.
Tree work in Moffat Beach
A seawall rebuilt around the pines
When council rebuilt the Moffat Beach seawall, its surveys showed some tree roots mingled with the old seawall. The work was carried out from the beach, not the land, to protect the Norfolk pines, as the community had asked, and each tree in the work area had its own protection zone. A job on a beachfront block beside the park follows the same logic: trucks, chippers and log piles stay outside the pines' root zone, even if that means a smaller machine or a longer carry.
Pines in private yards carry their own risk. After the January 2021 storm, one long-time resident described losing a pine tree that was 100 feet tall, one of the oldest in the area, which snapped and crushed the fence but missed the house. Old pines that tall catch the full force of storm cells off the sea, so they are worth inspecting before summer for a weak top, decay or lifting roots. Where a failure would land on a building, the height is reduced or the tree removed.
Services in Moffat Beach
Tall pines and storms off the sea
Tree pruning
Deadwood and heavy tops taken out of tall old pines before the storm season.
Storm damage
Snapped pines and torn limbs made safe after a storm off the sea, and the timber taken away.
Stump grinding
Stumps near the foreshore ground out with the council pines' roots found first and left uncut.
How it works
What happens after you get in touch
The council question is answered before the price, and nothing is booked until you have the quote in writing and have said yes to it.
- 1
Tell us about the tree
The suburb, what the tree stands near and what you would like done with it.
- 2
Someone comes to look
A tree contractor who covers your area sees the tree, the access and whatever is underneath it.
- 3
The council position is checked
Lot size, how close the tree is to the house and the mapping on the block decide whether an application comes first.
- 4
Quoted in writing
Scope, timber, stump and date set out on one page. Nothing is booked until you accept it.
Moffat Beach questions
Flying-foxes, the seawall and the foreshore pines
Are there flying-foxes near the industrial area?
Seasonally. Council's flying-fox update describes the roost at Hardie Buzacott Wildflower Reserve West, in the industrial part of Moffat Beach, as generally occupied by mainly black flying-foxes from late September to late April. The bats are protected, so tree work in or next to that reserve is booked for the months the colony is usually away, without disturbing any bats still there.
How did the 2022 storms affect the foreshore trees?
They hit the wall the trees stand behind. Council said the Moffat Beach seawall was damaged in the February 2022 severe weather, with cracks along its top and sections subsiding, and that the health of the trees along the foreshore would be monitored regularly. Trees on beachfront blocks deserve the same attention after a big swell: a look for lean, cracked ground and roots that have lost their soil.
Can a foreshore pine be cut back for a view?
No. Those pines are council trees, and council chose a hybrid line for the new seawall, partly out onto the beach, because it gave the Norfolk Island pines the most protection with the least impact on the beach and the park. Any pruning of them is council's decision.
