About a dozen mature native trees were illegally cut down in a Crown reserve at Suffolk Park and locals have been urged to help catch the culprit.
It is believed the trees were removed last week from near the beach access track on the corner of Wareham and Alcorn streets.
Council’s governance manager, Ralph James, said staff were investigating the incident and Council would pursue the matter vigorously. Earlier this year, a court fined a Byron Shire resident $11,000 for illegal tree removal.
‘Council takes unlawful tree removal very seriously, and to that end we ask anyone with information about the incident to please contact us,’ Mr James said.
‘People who remove trees need to understand that it is not acceptable to destroy the natural environment in a way which has occurred in this instance.
‘Generally, even trees on private property require a development application to be removed. So it is even more troubling when someone decides to cut down and dump trees from public land.
‘The removal was compounded by the fact Council and community groups have spent 20 years in the Suffolk Park area working to restore the natural environment, only to have one act of destruction years undo years of hard work.’
Anyone with information about the removal is asked to contact Council on 6626 7320.