Callery pear Pyrus calleryana trees showing off their stunning red foliage at the National Arboretum. Photo: National Arboretum Canberra.
An ornamental tree planted thousands of times across Canberra could become the city’s “next cane toad”, environmental groups have warned.
They’ve called on the ACT Government to stop planting Callery pears and rethink how potentially invasive trees are protected.
A Legislative Assembly inquiry into changes to Canberra’s urban forest laws heard concerns that Callery pear trees were already spreading from streets and suburbs into nearby nature reserves.
Friends of Mount Majura ParkCare told the inquiry about 12,000 Callery pears had been planted across Canberra and said evidence of their spread into natural areas was beginning to emerge.
The group said the species was classified as an environmental weed in Victoria but had not been declared a pest plant in the ACT.
That distinction matters because trees on public land remain protected under the Urban Forest Act unless they fall within existing exemptions, leaving potentially invasive species protected while they continue to spread.
The inquiry heard the ACT Government was still planting Callery pears in Canberra suburbs.
Friends of Mount Majura says the problem extends beyond the Urban Forest Act to the rules governing which trees are planted on public land.
Its submission points to Municipal Infrastructure Standard 25, which guides plant selection for urban landscape projects but does not currently recognise Callery pear as invasive. The standard is under review and the group wants Callery pear and other invasive species removed from it.
It also wants the Urban Forest and Planning Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 to exclude potentially invasive species from tree protections, rather than waiting until they are formally declared pests. The group proposes using national invasive-species data and plant census lists from the ACT, NSW and Victoria to identify species that should be excluded.
Its recommendations go further, calling for biosecurity expertise on the Tree Advisory Panel and a moratorium on the propagation, sale and planting of tree species identified as having invasive potential.
The warning comes as the ACT Government considers how Canberra can increase its urban canopy while managing the ecological value, species and condition of individual trees.
During the government session of the inquiry, Climate Change, Environment, Energy and Water Minister Suzanne Orr said decisions under the proposed new tree-removal pathway would consider a tree’s species, condition, life expectancy and ecological value, alongside its location and the consequences of a proposed development.
However, the government session did not directly address the evidence about Callery pears or the calls to stop planting potentially invasive species.
