Protected tree list cut back by 85%
The Matamata-Piako District Council is proposing to reduce the number of trees protected by its district plan from 667 to 97.
It’s all part of Plan Change 48 which protects trees of a high value and removes trees from the protected list that do not meet the Standard Tree Evaluation Threshold (STEM) of 140 points carried out by Arborcare.
It measures size, age, form, historical association and visual contribution of trees to the landscape.
It proposes to offer an increased level of flexibility to landowners with protected trees to carry out maintenance and pruning work while still protecting significant trees.
Plan Change 48 has upset many in the community, including Matamata Historical Society member Pauline Raphael who says she ‘‘pretty much lived at the library for six months’’ when researching historical and memorial trees in the area.
She says she realises not every tree can be protected, but the reduced number is too severe and omits many trees important to the district’s history. She, with fellow historical society member Mary Cobham offered the council detailed research on historical and memorial trees.
Both Raphael and sustainability consultant Gord Stewart agree the 140 threshold is too high and a lower threshold would have increased the amount of protected trees on the list.
‘‘When you put it at 140, look at the dramatic drop in the number of trees protected.
‘‘There were errors in estimating the age of some trees and if you lowered the STEM score for the protection level, you are allowing for some of those errors,’’ says Stewart.
‘‘I’m against what council is doing on principle,’’ says Stewart.
‘‘We are at a place now where we need more protection, not less, so a plan that’s going to reduce protected trees by 85 per cent is ridiculous. I’m a rural property owner and I want more trees, not less.’’
Two significant trees which are not listed because of their young age are Turkish Red Pines near the RSA section of Matamata Cemetery that were grown from seeds from Chunuk Bair. Raphael says they are living memorial of the soldiers who died at war and deserve to be on the list.
Matamata-Piako District Council senior communications officer Adele Preston says policies regarding commemorative trees, monuments and memorials were also included in the General Policies Reserve Management Plan, which the council was reviewing this year.