Arborist | Townsville City Council

• Advance Your Career in Tropical North QLD
• The only City with a Diversity of both Dry and Wet Tropic Species
• Up to $82K + 13.5% Super + RDO + 5 weeks Leave + Relocation Assistance

With a new Tree Policy in Townsville, you can make moving, living and belonging in the city safer, greener, and more enjoyable for the community. 

The Organisation

Townsville City Council recognises the condition and quality of public spaces is a highly valued liveability attribute for the Townville community. It includes open spaces like parks as well as assets such as streets, street trees, landscaping, and public footpaths. This typically ‘green infrastructure’ is of critical value to a city’s well-functioning infrastructure network. Trees in the urban landscape have innumerable benefits including public health, reducing heat, combating climate change, stormwater management, biodiversity and supporting enjoyable, safe, and healthy communities. Good quality public spaces not only reflect a well-functioning city, but a well-cared for city that is loved by its residents.

Council’s goal is to prioritise the delivery of quality public spaces and continuously improve the condition of public spaces, with a focus on providing for and valuing the city’s green infrastructure. Underpinning this was the recent adoption of a Public Tree Management Policy to guide and inform the process around managing trees that form the public tree network. 

The Role

As a Technical Officer Arboriculture, you will report to the Principal Arborist and provide specialist knowledge of tree assessment processes, risk assessment, tree and plant species identification, pest and disease identification, vegetation planning and revegetation for Council’s parks and open space assets. You will ensure risk exposure is minimised through completing proactive, reactive, and emergency tree risk assessments across the region, including following up and monitoring of trees with pest, disease or other health and structure concerns.

Making the role your own will give you responsibility for reliable urban tree management for the community, with an emphasis on efficiency for customer service requests, and effectively enforcing Council's tree preservation measures and its related policies. Providing accurate and effective technical assessment and recommendations relating to tree management and public risk matters and understanding the relevant Australian Standards will be essential.

This is a supportive and tight knit team that will ensure you get the training and development you require to realise any future career ambitions.

About You

To be successful in this role your experience and qualifications will include the following:

• Demonstrated experience role modelling a positive safety culture and adherence to the Health Safety Management Systems through visible leadership and exercising due diligence and management of compliance and legislative obligations.
• Experience in tree assessment at a diploma level, including however not limited to; maintenance and risk management practices, interpretation tree morphology/ structural integrity, and hazard and risk identification.
• Demonstrated understanding of managing trees on development sites, and mitigating development impacts.
• Demonstrated knowledge of tree and plant identification, pest and disease, plant biology, pathology, physiology and biomechanics, plant propagation and cultivation.
• Demonstrated understanding of soils and their properties in relation to soil erosion, declared weeds and environmental weeds, land rehabilitation and revegetation.
• Understanding of wildlife habitat and conservation values, ecology, and habitat corridors.
• Knowledge and understanding of the interaction between urban and rural landscapes and processes involved to retain and improve the environment.
• Demonstrated ability to use technology as required to capture, locate, name and map parks and open space assets.
• Diploma in Arboriculture
• Either TRAQ or QTRA Certification.

There is a big appetite in Council to save trees and is therefore high on the Council’s agenda. Your specialist knowledge of tree assessment processes including the information above will ensure you can make a meaningful contribution and importantly allow you to obtain experience that would be hard to equal elsewhere.

Why this Role?

With 400 Parks and 182 open spaces, Townsville is the only place with a diversity of both dry and wet tropic species. Being involved with 3 Botanic Gardens across the City your work will also include the Palmetum which has the largest collection of Palms in the Southern Hemisphere.

For someone who is keen for a new challenge and perhaps a lifestyle change to tropical North Queensland this is a genuine opportunity to leverage and broaden your experience and enhance tree planting and management with the largest regional Council in QLD. 

Some of the appeal of the role is being exposed to some unique situations eg saving important trees in the Botanical Gardens, continuity of work and for the role you can play in influencing future planning and plantings for both residents and businesses in the city.  The position is a 50/50 desk and field role with no hard labour or tree climbing requirement. Outcomes focus means if you are doing the required number of inspections Council are also open to being flexible around your personal working requirements.

A salary of up to $82K + 13.5% Super + fortnightly RDO and relocation assistance will be discussed with the successful candidate. Future Learning and Development opportunities are also supported. You can also enjoy Christmas knowing you have a new role to start in 2024!

Applications will close at 10pm on Monday 4th March 2024 unless a suitable applicant is found earlier.

Please call Rona Horsfall – Principal Consultant at Peak Services on 0438 943*** in complete confidence if you would like to have an initial discussion.

Alternatively, please click on ‘Apply’ and you will be able to access our website where you can download a Candidate Briefing Pack with further details and register your interest.