Kauri dieback: Closed Auckland walking tracks breached during Covid-19 lockdown

Thursday, 28 May 2020

Auckland Council's Information Communication and Technology team is helping West Auckland rangers in the battle to stop the spread of kauri dieback by developing new, cheap, effective monitoring technology.

Three people have been handed trespass notices for wandering into closed walking tracks in Auckland when New Zealand was under coronavirus lockdown.

The breaches were at West Auckland's Waitākere Ranges and the Hunua Ranges, south-east of Auckland, where several tracks are shut to prevent the spread of kauri dieback.

All three people were local to the areas where the breaches happened.

Three people have been given trespass notices for breaching closed tracks during the lockdown (file photo).

Auckland Council kauri dieback compliance manager Karli Green said the breaches were disappointing.

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Most of the tracks in the Waitākere Ranges are closed because of the threat of kauri dieback disease.

The council went through a month of video footage from when the country was in lockdown and caught the three culprits on camera.

'It's always frustrating when rules are broken and closed tracks are breached,' Green said.

All three were issued a trespass and a bylaw notice each.

The notices served as a warning and meant the culprits are not allowed to go anywhere near a closed track at all.

Most of the 144 tracks in the Waitākere Ranges have been closed since 2018 because of the threat of kauri dieback.

The disease can be spread via tiny amounts of mud or soil carried on people or animals

Green said people were out and about in the ranges during the lockdown but there wasn't massive traffic and they appeared to be locals so were allowed to walk in their local area.

In October last year, council issued 49 trespass notices in the past six months.

Of these, 95 per cent were locals 'who were not playing by the rules'.

Council's regulatory compliance manager Steve Pearce said they were residents living adjacent to area where tracks were closed.

In November, an Auckland man appeared in court, facing three charges of breaching the Public Safety and Nuisance Bylaw.

He is the first person to be charged for trespassing on closed tracks.