THE owner of Beechworth’s Mayday Hills has reacted aggressively to an official probe into the axing of two trees at his property.
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George Fendyk is being investigated by Heritage Victoria over the felling of brittle and smooth-barked gum trees in the vicinity of the George Kerferd Hotel.
“They can put me in jail, I’m not paying one cracker,” Mr Fendyk said when asked about a potential fine.
Heritage Victoria has oversight of trees at the historic property and a permit is required for lopping them.
It told The Border Mail no authorisation had been given and its investigations and enforcement unit was examining the matter with a site inspection likely next week.
Mr Fendyk was given an official warning by Heritage Victoria in 2014 after the unauthorised removal of a mature hazelnut tree.
He said the two recently chopped trees had “both dropped branches” and were “both stuffed”.
“It takes a month to get a permit,” Mr Fendyk said.
“If I’ve got a dangerous situation for a month, do I put up with that?
“There’s 500 trees up there and some have reached the age where they’re dying and dropping branches and they could kill people.”
Mr Fendyk’s actions have upset Beechworth residents concerned at the loss of habitat and history.
One, Sandra Williams, aired her concern at the brittle gum being “chainsawed to the ground” at Indigo Council’s meeting this week.
She asked mayor Jenny O’Connor if permission had been granted for the felling.
Cr O’Connor said there had been no approval and the tree’s hacking was “upsetting”.
“We’ve also requested to our officers that we have a discussion about the ongoing management of the trees in Mayday Hills because it is a problem and it is something we’re very concerned about it,” she said.
Mr Fendyk suggested if community members wanted to preserve trees on the property they could assume ownership of an individual species.
“They can adopt it and ensure they’re responsible and then I can’t cut them down, how does that sound?” he said.
A Beechworth Treescape Group brochure that details three Mayday Hills tree walks extols the gardens, paying particular reference to “a backdrop of magnificent native trees, most notably brittle gums”.
