New Canberrans may struggle to picture the main drag as anything but a construction site, but it used to be a boulevard of beautiful trees running through the city.

When the light rail project came to town, it meant a grand total of 949 trees had to be taken out and we were tasked by Curious Canberran Penleigh Boyd to find out where.

"I hope they didn't just go into landfill. What a terrible waste of a natural resource if they did," he said.

"Usually the government is proud to publicise how the by-products of such projects is productively used. In this project we have heard nothing.

Add 355 to this tree's 594 and you'll have the total number of trees chopped down to make way for light rail. ( ABC News: Tegan Osborne )

"The people of Canberra deserve to know whether the timber was well-used or wasted. After all, the tram is being promoted by government as an environmentally friendly exercise.

"Is there something we are not being told?"

It all sounds very mysterious when the question is posed like that. It's nothing so sinister, but the answer also isn't simple.

Not suitable for animals but great for kids

Public parks and playgrounds at a few Canberra schools have used felled Northbourne trees. ( ABC Radio Canberra: Hannah Walmsley )

One of the ideas they had (which sounded brilliant for a journalist hoping to spend a day with cute animals) was to use the felled branches and logs to creates habitats for animals in wildlife centres and zoos and the like.

Unfortunately, there are actually "very specific requirements" for that sort of thing, according to the man in charge of environmental approvals and sustainability for the light rail project.

"You don't want straight limbs, you want stuff that has holes or creates interesting places to hide for animals," Canberra Metro's Pat Giltrap said.

This log at Finn St park in O'Connor is no fun for animals, but works great as a balance beam. ( ABC News: Jon Healy )

"Very few of the trees that we took down had hollows or anything like that."

Although there are some stumps remaining in the Transport Canberra and City Services timber depot that Canberra Metro is hoping can be turned into habitats, that dream is looking slim.

But one animal's refuse is another's plaything, and the trees have had a second life in a number of playgrounds around the city.

Kids like Teddy Dahlstrom can test out a number of "natural play stations" around Canberra. ( ABC Radio Canberra: Hannah Walmsley )

Schools in Hackett, Ainslie and O'Connor are all using felled Northbourne trees in their play areas, as are a whole host of public parks, including Finn Street Park in O'Connor.

Laying down their lives for others

Seven-hundred new eucalyptus trees have been planted along Northbourne Avenue. ( Supplied: Yarralumla Nursery )

Perhaps the most obvious destination for the trees is a woodchipper, to become mulch.

That's certainly happening, but strictly not back at their homes on the Northbourne median strip.

As any gardener would know, mulch is a fickle beast and there is an issue with how finely the Eucalyptus elata can be mulched, so it unfortunately can't be used around the base of the brand new Eucalyptus mannifera in their place.

Speaking of which, if you were wondering what to expect from those new trees being planted, you need look no further than the other side of the road.

See that big white one on the left? That's what those skinny guys will look like in 40 years or so. ( ABC News: Jon Healy )

Hundreds of those big white eucalyptus trees will be lining the track up and down Northbourne Avenue after a mammoth growing effort by Yarralumla Nursery.

They were called on to grow 1,200 trees in total, with 700 mannifera for the main drag, extending to Gungahlin, where some of them are starting to sport a bit of a lean.

But Yarralumla Nursery's general manager, Chris Ware, said there was no need to worry about their structural integrity because they're simply doing the arboreal equivalent of shredding for Stereo.

The ACT Government called for 1,200 trees to replace the 949 cut down. ( Supplied: Yarralumla Nursery )

"What's happening out there is you've got a wind tunnel effect [and] those trees are effectively building up muscle just by being blown around," he said.

"Those trees will straighten up and as they put on new growth over the coming spring — just like when you're exercising your own arm — will develop muscle and tension wood, as it's called.

"Then [they] will be able to resist that wind and hopefully straighten up."

About 40 per cent of the new trees have been planted at this point and Mr Giltrap said he hopes all the trees will be in the ground in the next two months, eventually creating a more scenic drive than ever before.

"You're going to see a very statuesque boulevard of very white-trunked trees that are going to be taller," he said.

"They're going to be less bushy and much more of an elegant taller tree."