Vote nears on Waitākere forest closure; public feedback split

Friday, 6 April 2018

A dead kauri on the Maungaroa Ridge Track in the Waitākere Ranges above Piha, West Auckland.

A large Auckland park is set be closed to the public to combat the rampant spread of kauri dieback disease.

Auckland Council decided in February to look to close the forested areas of the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park by May 1, but to consult on the measure first.

Its environment committee was to meet on April 10 for a final vote on the matter – and council staff have in the agenda recommended the forest be closed, as consulted on.

The closure would not affect access to roads, beaches and pasture land, and tracks safe for kauri would remain open, with closed tracks progressively opened as they were made safe.

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The agenda's report said there had been more than 800 pieces of feedback, with 24 per cent of submitters saying the proposal was about right and another 25 per cent saying not enough tracks would be closed.

However, 43 per cent of submitters felt too many tracks were to be closed and the impact on the community too great.

More investment in research and science on the disease was wanted, and more education for the public.

'There was also a level of skepticism about the effectiveness of closures as there is limited understanding of the disease and some vectors, such as flooding and pest animals, which will remain regardless of closure,' the agenda report said.

A timeframe of when tracks would be reopened would be released once the council's long-term plan was finalised. Initial priority though should be given to re-establishing coastal connectivity and multi-day walking opportunities, it said.

A three-to-four-day walk could be opened within a year at a cost of $1.93 million.

The closure recommended by council officers would need $1.18 million that was not currently budgeted for, with $740,000 of this needed for the 2017/18 financial year.

It would align the council with local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki's rahui, put in place in December last year.

But councillors have also been given a stricter option to consider of completely closing all forested areas 'to give the clearest message', although more consultation would be needed.

A less strict option of closing less of the park would be considered as well.

The council would also vote on closure of some tracks in the Hunua Ranges to the east of the city.

Kauri dieback has not been detected in the Hunua Ranges and so the idea was to protect the healthy trees there.

The combined closures across both parks were 'of a scale not previously tested in New Zealand' and would need to be regularly reviewed.

It was now known that kauri dieback was also widespread on the Awhitu Peninsula in southwest Auckland, and kauri in north Auckland were in poor health.

Kauri dieback across Auckland in 2018 by Simon Smith on Scribd

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Auckland Council currently has $3m budgeted to spend on kauri dieback over the next decade, excluding staff costs.

Its proposed environmental targeted rate would provide either another $83.6m or $95m to fight kauri dieback.

The council was also investigating large-scale phosphite treatment of kauri, although the injections would only keep trees alive, not cure them.

The following two maps are of the closures in the Waitākere Ranges and Hunua Ranges that council staff have recommended:

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE TREES?

Kauri are dying from the incurable disease Phytophthora agathidicida, known as kauri dieback disease.

A council study in August 2017 found that nearly a quarter of trees in the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park's 2571 hectares of kauri forest were by 2016 either infected or possibly infected.

This number had doubled within five years, and two-thirds of the infected kauri were within 50 metres of a walking track.

The scientists said it looked like the disease was mostly spread by soil on human feet – with 44 per cent of people not using cleaning stations.