Auckland Council votes against full closure of Waitākere Ranges

Tuesday, 5 December 2017

A rāhui, or exclusion zone, was placed on the Waitākere Ranges on last week by West Auckland iwi Te Kawerau a Maki.

Auckland Council has voted against closing the Waitākere Ranges to counter the spread of kauri dieback disease.

Council was in a meeting for much of Tuesday to consider five options ranging from not doing anything, continuing with the status quo or closing the Waitākere Ranges entirely to stop the spread of the disease.

Councillors have voted down the option to close the Waitākere Ranges by 11 votes to seven.

Instead they have voted to close high to medium risk walking tracks, and fight the disease through increased investment by improving track surfaces and installing hygiene stations.

* Closing the Waitakere Ranges might be 'just not possible', but could it even work?

* Kauri dieback is rampant in the Waitakere Ranges, new study shows**

Council environment committee chair Penny Hulse said council had passed the most practical option possible.

'In an ideal world we would be able to close the ranges.'

Hulse said council would instead work to discourage the public from using the Waitākere Ranges including encouraging ATEED to remove the area from its promotional material.

Councillor John Watson said an outright ban would be clearer for the public to understand and make the numbers entering and exiting more manageable.

'We should be on a war footing here.

'We've been sending out mixed messages and the road we are going down is more likely to cause confusion.'

A recent report showed nearly a quarter of the trees in the park's 2571 hectares of kauri forest were either infected or possibly infected.

Local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki held a ceremony last week to place a rāhui, or ritual ban, on the area in an effort to protect it from further damage.

Executive chairman Te Warena Taua said there had been too much time spent on reports rather than taking action to stop the spread of dieback.

'I have never seen a report that says the cleaning stations work. I don't want my mokopuna to read reports on the trees that used to stand.'

Taua said he was at the meeting to make a stand for Te Kawerau ā Maki.

Former Auckland Council biosecurity manager Jack Craw argued all tracks need to be closed.

'A hard and necessary decision needs to be made to ensure the future of kauri.'

Dieback was first discovered in the Waitākere Ranges in 2006 on the Maungaroa Ridge track.

The disease is caused by a microscopic spore in the soil that attacks the roots and trunks of kauri.

It damages the tissues that carry nutrients within the tree, meaning they starve to death.

The disease is easily spread by human movement as it can be carried in soil on footwear.