WA farmer offers to revegetate after admitting poisoning dozens of native trees
Some of the poisoned trees have died and turned brown outside Mr Mulally's property. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)
In short:
A WA farmer has admitted he poisoned dozens of trees with glyphosate in road verge in WA's south.
Redmond's Peter Mullally says he is remorseful and has offered to replant the jarrah and marri trees.
What's next?
Department of Water and Environmental Regulation is investigating the matter.
A farmer who has admitted to poisoning dozens of trees outside his property says he's extremely remorseful and has offered to revegetate the area.
In what the local government described as a "reprehensible" act, 69 jarrah and marri trees were poisoned with glyphosate along a gravel road in Redmond, near Albany on Western Australia's south coast.
Peter Mullally, whose family have farmed in the area for decades, spoke to the ABC and admitted to poisoning the trees along the road verge last month.
Redmond farmer Peter Mullally has admitted to poisoning the trees because he wanted to reduce the bushfire risk. (ABC Great Southern: Mark Bennett)
"I'm devastated. I'm not into destroying the environment," he said.
Mr Mullally said he had wanted to remove the trees to reduce the risk of a potential bushfire impacting his house, which sits within 20 metres of the tree line.
"The reason why I poisoned them was in the summertime we get a lot of leaves blowing onto our lawn and into gutter, I consider it a fire hazard," he said.
"I'm hoping they see my side of the story as well and be reasonable."
Offer to revegetate dead trees
Mr Mullally said he had admitted responsibility to the City of Albany and is now facing an investigation by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.
Illegally clearing bushland in WA can attract a penalty of up to $250,000.
Mr Mullally said he loved the environment and regretted his actions, admitting he should have approached the council sooner about his concerns.
One of the poisoned trees with a drill hole in its trunk. (Supplied: City of Albany)
"I look after wild birds regularly, I've planted shrubs outside the fence on the road verge to help the birds," he said.
"I'm quite prepared to revegetate the area that's been poisoned.
"If I'd known it had caused this trouble, I wouldn't have done it."
City condemns damage
Albany Mayor Greg Stocks described it as a "reprehensible" act after the poisoning came to light on Tuesday.
"This is an act of vandalism on a large scale that will be investigated by the city, along with state government authorities," he said.
"The deliberate destruction of these trees is a reprehensible act that undermines the efforts of our community to maintain and enhance our natural environment."
Albany Community Environment Centre's spokesperson Lynn MacLaren said the tree poisoning was devastating given the work by many in the region to preserve jarrah and marri trees for endangered black cockatoos.
The City of Albany says 69 trees were poisoned. (Supplied: City of Albany)
"It's terrible loss of habitat, for foraging, for potential roosting sites," she said.
"These are created over decades.
"It takes decades for a tree to become habitat for cockatoos, to become roosting sites.
"And these trees were perfect for that. So it is devastating to us all because it's a great loss to our environment."