The Sunshine Coast Street Tree Master Plan is Sunshine Coast Council’s blueprint for street tree planting in our region. The plan details why trees are so important, communicates the region’s street tree planting priorities and provides guidance for selection, placement and care of new street trees. It also outlines Council's approach and commitment to not just sustaining but enhancing the region's existing street tree canopy cover over time, by planting the right trees in the right locations, and planting more of them.

Since the plan launched in 2018, we’ve planted over 16,000 new trees across the Sunshine Coast. With your help, we’ve focused on greening high-use streets, especially where shade and walkability matter most. With the first 5 years of implementation now complete, the existing plan is due to be refreshed.

To ensure we continue to plant trees in locations where they’ll have the greatest impact, we’re:

• reviewing the success of the plan to date and revisiting our priorities
• expanding its scope to include trees in parks and amenity reserves
• seeking your input to guide the refreshed plan.

The importance of trees in our communities

Trees are vital to the health, resilience, and liveability of our communities—now and into the future. As our climate continues to warm, green spaces will be critical to maintaining our cherished outdoor lifestyles. Shady streets and leafy parks will allow us to continue walking, cycling, and exercising even in the peak of summer. Cooler streetscapes will reduce heat in our homes and business centres, lowering our reliance on air-conditioning, while green open spaces will offer refuge and relief during periods of extreme heat.

The benefits of trees reaches far beyond the beauty that they bring to our streets and parks. By investing in and protecting our urban trees, we’re not just enhancing our neighbourhoods—we’re safeguarding our wellbeing, supporting biodiversity, and building climate resilience. Here’s why trees matter so much:

We’re inviting the community to help decide:

• where new trees should go—in local streets, parks, or both
• what outcomes to prioritise for community wellbeing—shade, biodiversity, cooling, beauty
• how you’d like to be involved—from sharing ideas and locations that need new trees to helping plant and care for trees in your street or local park.

Let’s reimagine our green future - this is your chance to help shape the next chapter. Whether you’re passionate about biodiversity, cooling our suburbs, or creating beautiful places to connect, your input will help guide our priorities.

Click on the tabs below to explore the ways you can get involved and be part of a greener Sunshine Coast. Community engagement is open from Tuesday 7 October to Friday 7 November at 5pm.

Help us identify where new trees should go using the interactive map below. Planting locations should focus on areas where there aren't many trees or where existing trees are ageing or dying. We will investigate all proposed locations and if deemed appropriate, we will plant a tree in the identified location.

Complete the online survey for a chance to win a $100 nursery voucher! Refer to the terms and conditions for more information.

Come to one of our pop-up events to learn more about the plan and chat with fellow tree lovers and the project team. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions, share ideas and help shape a greener future for your community. The first 50 attendees at each event will also get a free tree (specifically selected to locality) to plant in their garden!

Pop-up event details are listed below.

Tree-mendous tree partnerships

Adopt a street tree program

Council is always on the look-out for custodians who can partner with us to care for new trees. If you would like to see more trees planted in your street or in a nearby location and can help care for these trees while they establish, we want to hear from you!

To register interest in Council’s adopt a tree program or tell us how you or your business, sporting club or community group wishes to partner with Council to become a Sunshine Coast tree champion, please complete the expression of interest form below.

Celebrating our exceptional trees

What types of trees or specific specimens do you value the most on the Sunshine Coast? Council is exploring the idea of creating a register of significant or exceptional trees in our community. We’re inviting you to help us identify, protect, and celebrate the most valuable trees in our public spaces.

Do you have an idea for how we could celebrate our local tree treasures? Take inspiration from the Coolum community, who have found creative ways to honour their exceptional trees through their Exceptional Tree Project.

After community engagement on the Street Tree Master Plan Refresh is complete, we will analyse the feedback and commence the process of setting new priorities and outcomes based on what you told us. Once finalised, we will present the refreshed plan to Council for endorsement and share it with the community.

In December 2017, Community engagement was undertaken to help shape the final version of the Street Tree Master Plan. All feedback was carefully reviewed and considered in the closing revision of the plan, which was endorsed by Council in June 2018.

The community response was very positive, with over 90% of survey respondents supportive of the principles and strategies presented in the draft plan, and over 97% of respondents attesting to the need for more street tree planting on the Sunshine Coast. View the community engagement summary for more information.

Since its adoption, Council has been delivering the plan’s priority outcomes, including:

• a new program of proactive street tree planting
• mapping and identifying priority planting sites for new street trees
• investigating new street tree sites as nominated by the community
• more intensive and extended young tree maintenance periods
• the roll-out of the ‘adopt a street tree program’.

Want to know more about the current plan?

The current Street Tree Master Plan is presented in two parts; part A and B, which are also accompanied by an overview: