Charmhaven
Tree removal in Charmhaven
Tree removal, pruning and stump grinding in Charmhaven, on the bush edge by Wallarah Creek and in gardens where the Charmhaven Apple, Angophora inopina, may grow.
Tree work in Charmhaven
Burnt creek bush and a threatened apple
The Charmhaven fire broke out on 31 December 2019 and reached emergency level, and by the time it was downgraded on New Year's Day it had burned more than 335 hectares of bushland. Along the edge of Wallarah Creek it climbed into the crowns of the casuarinas and the gums. A tree that lives through a crown fire can be left with dead limbs and a weakened trunk, so a fire-marked tree beside a house, a shed or a fence is assessed before anything is cut.
A tree also carries the suburb's name. The state's threatened species profile for the Charmhaven Apple, Angophora inopina, says its southern populations reach from Toronto to Charmhaven, with the main population between Charmhaven and Morisset. It can pass for any other angophora, so an apple tree on a Charmhaven block is identified before anyone prices pruning or removal.
Services in Charmhaven
Fire-weakened timber and a listed species
Tree pruning
Dead wood taken out of the casuarinas and the gums near Wallarah Creek, and branches lifted clear of roofs and gutters.
Tree removal
Fire-weakened trees lowered in pieces over roofs, sheds and fences.
Tree removal permits
When an angophora on the block may be a Charmhaven Apple, its identity is settled first, because that decides who gives the approval.
How it works
From the first message to a written quote
The council question is settled before any price, and nothing is booked until you have said yes to a quote in writing.
- 1
Tell us what the tree is doing
Where it stands, what it is close to and what you would like done about it.
- 2
A contractor comes to see it
A tree contractor who covers your suburb looks at the tree, the access and what is underneath it.
- 3
The council question is answered
Height, trunk size, distance from the house and the species decide whether a permit or an exemption applies.
- 4
You get it in writing
Scope, timber, stump and date on one page, and nothing is booked until you have said yes.
Charmhaven questions
What the apple's listing covers, and the mapped fires
Is every Charmhaven Apple protected, or only the ones in the bush?
Every one of them. NSW BioNet gives Angophora inopina a conservation status of vulnerable in NSW and at Commonwealth level, and that status applies to the whole species, so a Charmhaven Apple in a back yard is protected just as one in the bush is. Council's tree exemptions stop short of any threatened species, and for this one the approval has to come from outside council.
Is the New Year's Eve fire the only one on record?
No. The parks service's mapped fire records also hold a wildfire named Arizona Rd, mapped wholly inside Charmhaven. That one started on 30 September 2007 and burned about 154 hectares, so on blocks backing onto the same bush, dead limbs over the roof and thick regrowth near the house are worth dealing with before summer.
Can a gum killed by the fire come out as a dead tree?
Only if it passes council's test for dead: no leaves present, its biological function ceased, and the trunk, root plate and canopy all dried out. A gum putting out new shoots along its trunk after a fire is alive by that test. The NSW planning department also wants the dead and dying tree exemptions tightened, with final changes proposed for the second half of 2026, so the rule is checked at the time of the job.
