North Avoca
Tree removal in North Avoca
Tree removal, pruning and stump grinding in North Avoca, from the yards beside the flying-fox camp to the blocks along the lagoon.
Tree work in North Avoca
Flying-fox habitat and an eroding lagoon edge
The North Avoca flying-fox camp is a roost of grey-headed flying-foxes, a species listed as vulnerable to extinction, and in June 2019 the council sought funding to help residents moderate the camp's impacts. Asked about flying-foxes in trees bordering their backyards, the council's answer is that because the trees are habitat for the flying-foxes, a protected species, they cannot be removed. The exception is a tree that poses a safety risk to human life, which can go to a tree assessment.
Erosion along the northern foreshore of Avoca Lagoon has exposed water and sewer infrastructure and contributed to damage of sensitive foreshore vegetation, so in late May 2025 the council moved sand from the lagoon entrance to replenish the eroded areas, especially near Bareena Wetland. A tree on a bank that is losing soil can be left with bare or undermined roots and go over in a storm, so on a lagoon-side block the root plate is checked before anyone climbs.
Services in North Avoca
Habitat trees, paperbarks and soft lagoon banks
Tree pruning
Pruning near the camp planned around the roosting flying-foxes, and started only once the council has given its answer.
Stump grinding
Ground out on lagoon-side blocks, with the grinder set up on firm ground well back from the bank.
Tree removal permits
For a tree the camp uses or a paperbark that may be threatened, the right approval is found before any price.
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.
North Avoca questions
Rare paperbarks and the wetland reserve
Is a paperbark near the foreshore protected?
It may be. Gosford City Council's significant tree register listed Melaleuca biconvexa, a rare endangered species, in a North Avoca foreshore reserve at grading 1. The council's pre tree works checklist names it among the known threatened species, for which the approval is not a council one, so a paperbark near that foreshore is identified to species before any cut is planned.
What grows in the reserve by Bareena Wetland?
The council's significant tree register lists swamp oak, blackbutt and broad leaved paper-bark in the foreshore reserve beside the wetland. Swamp oak and paperbark grow in low, wet ground where roots stay shallow and the soil softens after rain, so a big one on a neighbouring block is checked for wind-throw risk. Blackbutt is a tall, heavy hardwood, and its timber comes down in sections rather than in one drop.
Can branches over the house be trimmed if flying-foxes use the tree?
Not under the council's usual exemptions, including the one for branches directly over a roof, because none of them applies to a habitat tree for threatened fauna species. A tree the camp uses is one, so trimming it starts with a request to the council.
