Jereme Lane

Journalist

Newsport readers have strongly indicated that they would like to see more action taken to address the vandalism of the rosewoods on Warner Street.

Council released a statement last week indicating that eight trees would be removed in November as they were beyond saving, and has since notified residents that the trees will be removed on Monday 8 November.

In a poll last week, Newsport asked, “Should a reward be offered for information regarding the poisoning of the Warner Street rosewoods?”

The results indicate a significant majority of people would like to see a reward offered as can be seen in the graph above.

Danielle Piat – who campaigned heavily to save the rosewoods and whose father initially planted the trees – says council promised to follow up with police once the toxicology reports confirmed that the trees were poisoned.

However, Port Douglas Police Station confirmed that as of yet, no formal complaints have been made.

Ms Piat said she is stepping back from the fight because she feels disheartened by the poisoning of the trees and the lack of any investigation into who did it.

“This should’ve been investigated at the time. Council promised me it would be investigated once the poisoning was confirmed and nothing has happened.”

Owner of Deep Yoga Studio on Warner St, Michael Joseph has been following the case with interest and while he agrees more can be done, he doesn’t think a reward is the answer.

“I think all that can be done has been done. I don't think a reward should be offered as I think replanting with new trees will be more than enough as a deterrent,” he said.

“An investigation could be a good idea however most of the focus should be on replanting because that way we’ll always have the trees.

For what it's worth, Mr Joseph doesn’t believe that it will happen again.

“Whoever has done this is highly unlikely to do it again. There's been too much attention drawn to it.”

Nesting birds

Ms Piat also told Newsport that while she is standing back from the rosewoods she has contacted council to inform them that the dead rosewoods currently have Torres Strait pigeons nesting in them.

“There’s pretty much a nest in every tree at the moment so I hope council aren’t planning to cut the trees down while they’ve got nesting birds living in them.”

Council has confirmed that any trees with nesting birds will not be removed.