Contractors fell newly planted trees
Over-zealous contractors are destroying hundreds of trees community groups have planted along Christchurch’s Heathcote River.
The damage has been happening for two years and Alice Shanks is fed up and frustrated the issue has not been resolved.
Shanks, the Friends of Ernle Clark Reserve co-ordinator, said the Christchurch City Council gave the group $4000 to plant natives in the Cashmere reserve in September last year.
About 40 people spent a day planting 500 trees and three months later Delta workers came through with weed eaters, destroying about 110 of them.
‘‘I had a lady who planted a totara come to me as she couldn’t find it. She’d taken her son to show him and it wasn’t there.’’
Shanks said planting a tree was significant, especially if children and the community were involved.
Delta replaced those damaged plants after Shanks complained, but workers came through again in August this year and destroyed about another 30 natives.
‘‘It’s just frustrating. It’s a real waste of council resources to be paying for plants and then wiping them out.’’
Friends of Ernle Clark Reserve is a member of the O¯ pa¯ waho/ Heathcote River Network of eight community groups working on various sites along the river and the damage was not isolated to Ernle Clark Reserve, she said.
It was happening in other reserves including Calder Green, Coronation Reserve, along the banks of the Avon River and at Redwood Springs.
She said the problem seemed to lie with the contracting system and not the council parks staff.
Shanks took her concerns to the council’s Infrastructure, Transport and Environment Committee on Wednesday.
Cr Mike Davidson said it was disappointing to hear of the damage especially when the council was trying to ‘‘grow trees not destroy them’’: ‘‘We need to action this quickly.’’
The committee requested a report for the Social and Community Development Committee detailing the content of the contracts in place with Delta to make sure the right performance measures were in place.
Delta declined to comment, referring inquiries about its contracts to the council.