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Officials assigned to 70,000 trees ID numbers and email addresses as part of a program designed to make it easier for citizens to report problems like dangerous branches. Each tree has its own ID number and email address, and it can easily find on a map, called Urban Forest Visual.

The “unintended but positive consequence,” as the chair of Melbourne’s Environment Portfolio, Councillor Arron Wood, put it to me in an email, was that people did more than just report issues.

They also wrote directly to the trees, which have received thousands of messages from all over the world—everything from banal greetings and questions about current events to love letters and existential dilemmas.

The writers complimented their looks and leaves. Some told tales of how they'd helped them survive during inclement weather. Some trees even wrote back. An example?

“As I was leaving St. Mary’s College today I was struck, not by a branch, but by your radiant beauty. You must get these messages all the time. You’re such an attractive tree.”

Source: Secret Melbourne

https://secretmelbourne.com/melbourne-trees-email/

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