Rural-residential Hills
Kenthurst sits north of Castle Hill in The Hills Shire, in the belt of rural-residential acreage that runs through Dural, Glenorie, Annangrove and Galston. Lot sizes are measured in hectares rather than square metres, the soils are mostly Wianamatta shale with sandstone appearing along the creek systems, and the tree work is a different trade from suburban pruning.
What the work looks like
Driveway clearance. Long private driveways under remnant canopy, needing crown lifting for truck and emergency-vehicle access and deadwooding over the running surface. This is the most frequent acreage job and it is genuinely important — a fire truck that cannot get down your driveway is a real problem, not a theoretical one.
Paddock trees. Isolated mature eucalypts standing in cleared grazing land. They have grown with no competition, so they carry wide, heavily loaded lateral limbs that were never shaded out. They are also habitat trees, frequently with hollows, and that matters to the approval.
Boundary and windrow work. Rows planted as shelter belts, now overgrown, over fences and into neighbouring paddocks.
Fuel and asset protection zone maintenance. Keeping a managed low-fuel buffer between the house and the bush, to the width set by the property's bushfire assessment.
Storm damage. Exposed acreage trees take wind from every direction.
Clearing is not just a council question
This is the thing that catches acreage owners. Native vegetation clearing on rural and rural-residential land is regulated at state level in addition to The Hills Shire's tree controls. Remnant Cumberland Plain woodland and Blue Gum High Forest fragments both occur in this area and are critically endangered communities.
Scrubby-looking regrowth is not automatically clearable, and a single large paddock tree with hollows may be protected as habitat. Get the vegetation mapping checked for the property before a machine is booked. Clearing first and asking afterwards is not a recoverable position.
Access changes the economics
On acreage, machine access is usually possible, and that inverts the usual Sydney cost structure. Where a truck and chipper can drive to each tree, material is handled by machine rather than by hand, and a big removal becomes comparatively fast.
The consequence is that batching pays here more than anywhere. Mobilising to a Kenthurst property is most of the cost; the second, third and fourth tree cost far less than the first. Plan the year's work into one or two visits rather than calling someone out every time a limb comes down.
The exceptions are gully margins along the creek lines, where the ground falls away and machines cannot follow.
The trees
Forest red gum, grey box and narrow-leaved ironbark on the shale; on the sandstone creek margins, angophora, Sydney peppermint and scribbly gum. Plus decades of planted shelter belts and orchard remnants.
Nearby
Castle Hill covers the suburban side, tree removal in Castle Hill covers removals, and the Hills District region page covers the shire.
Ring (02) 9000 1943, or read what lopping should mean.
Other numbers for this area
You can also reach us on (02) 9538 7842. Either number reaches the same team - tell us the suburb and what the job involves and we will get an arborist out to look at it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I clear regrowth on my own acreage?
Not freely. Native vegetation clearing on rural and rural-residential land is regulated at state level as well as by The Hills Shire, and what looks like scrubby regrowth can be a remnant of a listed ecological community. Have the vegetation mapping checked before booking a machine. Retrospective approval for clearing does not exist.
What is an asset protection zone and do I need one?
It is a managed, low-fuel buffer between a building and the bushfire hazard, with the required width set by slope, vegetation type and the bushfire assessment for the property. On bushfire prone rural-residential land it is often a condition of a building approval. Establishing and maintaining one is legitimate clearing work with a defined purpose and extent.
Is it cheaper to do several paddock trees at once?
Considerably. Most of the cost on acreage is mobilising a crew, a chipper and a tipper to the property and getting set up. Once machines are on site and can drive to each tree, the marginal cost of the next one is much lower. Batch the work into one visit rather than calling someone out each time something drops a limb.