Wamberal
Tree removal in Wamberal
Tree removal, storm work and stump grinding in Wamberal, from the beachfront dunes to the blocks around the lagoon.
Tree work in Wamberal
An eroding beach with a lagoon behind it
Central Coast Council says Wamberal Beach has some of the worst impacts of coastal erosion of any beach in NSW, with storms threatening beachfront properties in 1974 and the first homes lost in the 1978 event. A tree near the erosion scarp can lose the sand around its roots in a single storm and lean or fall.
In mid-July 2020 the most destructive erosion event of that year hit the beach, and the council placed 4,400 tonnes of rock under emergency orders to protect coastal infrastructure. A big swell can undercut the dune behind the beachfront houses within a day or two.
Behind the dunes, Wamberal Lagoon is classed as a back-dune lagoon with an intermittently closed entrance, opened artificially when the water reaches a trigger level during storms. Until it is opened, storm rain lifts the lagoon around the low foreshore, and trees on lakeside blocks can stand in waterlogged soil that loosens their roots.
Services in Wamberal
Unstable dunes, buried rubble and soggy lawns
Storm damage
Trees left leaning or with roots exposed after a big swell assessed from well back off the eroded edge.
Stump grinding
Ground out with the ground probed first and the teeth worked around anything buried under the stump.
Tree removal
Lakeside trees taken down once the lawn is firm enough to carry a truck, rather than straight after a storm.
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.
Wamberal questions
Rubble, rainforest and the Lett Park tuckeroo
What lies buried in the beachfront dunes?
When a June 2016 storm eroded the beach, rock, building rubble and other ad hoc protection materials from the 1970s were exposed in the dunes and on the sand, and some houses were left hanging on the edge of the erosion cliff face. A stump on a beachfront block can sit on top of the same material.
Do blocks backing onto the nature reserve need extra checks?
They do. Wamberal Lagoon Nature Reserve covers 139ha and holds stands of undisturbed littoral rainforest, present in only a few other areas of the Central Coast. Where a tree sits inside the coastal wetlands and littoral rainforest map, the council's tree works checklist says development consent is required.
Can a branch from the Lett Park tuckeroo be cut back?
Not as a private job. The old Gosford City Council register listed a tuckeroo in Lett Park as a council-owned tree of grade 1 significance, so a problem branch is referred to the council rather than cut back across the boundary.
