The felling of two heritage cypress trees at Williamstown cemetery has angered a local historian.
But the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, which manages the cemetery, said the two Monterey cypress trees had been dropping limbs and posed a risk to the public.
The cemetery, established in 1857, is on the Victorian Heritage Register and its trees are deemed to be of state significance.
The historian, who asked not to be named, said he believed the two cypress trees were about 150 years old.
“Everyone who lives around here is devastated,” he said.
“One of those trees … has a crane that roosts there every night and I’ve taken photographs of it and can’t even identify the crane – it’s endangered.
“And it’s not one, it’s two they’ve cut down – and they’ve just left the firewood there. They’ve not just chopped them down, they’ve chopped them up into little blocks.”
Trust chief executive Jacqui Briggs said public safety issues posed by the trees’ decay and vulnerability to the elements had been identified more than a year ago.
“It was eventually determined that the trees needed to be removed in the interests of public safety and also from an aesthetic point of view,” she said.
“The trees continued to drop limbs and as a result became a serious hazard to public and employee safety.”
Ms Briggs said the timber from the cypress trees was not able to be recycled.
“When timber from removed trees is of a quality that would be of interest to a carpenter or artisan, the trust endeavors to make the material available.”
Two Aleppo pines were also removed as they were “completely dead”, she said.
