North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Neighbour saves pohutukawa
A concerned neighbour has stopped what she feared was the destruction of a huge pohutukawa tree, just in time.
Northcote resident Tonia Williams was home at lunchtime when she witnessed, from her kitchen window, her neighbour taking a chainsaw to a very large and old pohutukawa tree.
Williams immediately ran over to the property to persuade them to stop, while her husband called Auckland Council.
By the time Auckland Council would have processed the request, it would have been too late, she thought: ‘‘We thought we had to do something then and there.’’
She spoke to the owner who said he had ‘‘done his research’’ and was allowed to take 30 per cent off the tree, she said.
‘‘But at the rate he was going, it looked as if it was going to be a lot more than that.’’ The owner told the arborist to stop, and hasn’t done more work since.
Williams has since considered the larger issue around tying social and environmental consciousness into property development. We need to give ‘‘some teeth’’ to the legacy of protecting our trees.
Resource consent applications give the council the chance to flag significant trees, but sometimes that information is not communicated between different owners or renters.
‘‘And this is not necessarily people coming in from other countries either,’’ Williams adds. ‘‘It’s a matter of people with different sets of values and the power of ownership.’’
Previously, Auckland Council had blanket tree controls under the District Plan. However, this has changed to targeted tree protection under the Unitary Plan. Forest & Bird North Shore chairman Dr Richard Hursthouse said the trees along Sylvan Ave are protected, because this area is a Significant Ecological Area.
‘‘We have witnessed the slow and steady removal of many amazing pohutukawa along this ridge line,’’ Hursthouse said. ‘‘Trees like this are part of what makes Auckland special. It is time people stopped destroying our taonga.’’
Auckland Council’s Steve Pearce said officers are currently investigating the protection status of the tree, to see whether there are any compliance breaches. Peace said if residents suspect anyone is damaging protected trees, contact 09 301 0101.