Pōhutukawa cut down illegally in 'opportunistic' post-cyclone tree felling

Thursday, 16 February 2023

Several pōhutukawa trees above the Parnell Baths in central Auckland came down in slips caused by January's flooding and February's Cyclone Gabrielle. But some others were brought down by people without the proper paperwork, an aborist says.

Pōhutukawa above the Parnell Baths on Auckland’s waterfront were illegally felled and dumped amid others lost to a slip.

Between the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, the bank above the baths in Judges Bay came down. Some trees became unstable in the slip and needed to be removed for safety.

But arborists working on the site have confirmed to Stuff that the pile of logs “grew” overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday – not all of them weather casualties.

Instead, an “opportunistic” private individual may have taken advantage of the weather, arborist and activist Zane Wedding said.

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Auckland Council is investigating after this tree was brought down illegally.

”We should be prosecuting people like that for removing the trees which could have incredible stabilisation value for that bank,” he said on Thursday morning at the site.

Auckland Council arborist and ecological manager David Stejskal has confirmed the council is investigating.

160223 News Photos JASON DORDAY/STUFF Several PÃÂhutukawa trees above the Parnell Baths in Auckland came down in slips during the January flooding and February cyclone Gabrielle. But some trees were brought down by people without the proper paperwork.

“Auckland Council is aware that someone (not a council contractor) has partially undertaken removal of a pōhutukawa along the access track of Judges Bay Rd leading down to the car park today [February 16]. Council staff is investigating this matter.”

Stejskal said on February 15 that the council did approve for two pōhutukawa to be removed several blocks away from Judges Bay, but is not aware of any other approvals granted elsewhere nearby.

A homeowner close to the site has been approached for comment.

Auckland Council contracted Tree Safe to clear the slip debris from the site.

Tree Safe director Dale Thomas said, two mornings in a row, he and the team found more pōhutukawa down than had been the day before.

“We were already working on some trees [for the council] that had fallen, and we were approached by the neighbour to cut their trees,” Thomas said. He said he declined, and referred the person to a consultant arborist.

Arborist and activist Zane Wedding says the illegally removed trees may have been helping to stabilise the bank.

“Later on in the project we turned up to work one day to find out somebody has been there during the night cutting the pōhutukawa on the said person’s property and dropping it onto our worksite.

“We thought that was it, so we didn’t do much about it, we thought council would catch up with them and we got on with our work. Then the next day we got back and they had cut more… we just thought, ‘Holy smokes, these guys are keen.’”

He and the team left the trees were the found them, cleaning up only what had fallen in the slip. Thomas expects the council will be investigating and intends to co-operate with them on it.

“I can confirm – it is suspect,” he said of the trees.

Wedding said the slips all over Auckland represent the cost of not having dense tree protections.

“These trees are a big part of the reason the bank is still there today,” Wedding said.

“When we get these floods, these trees hold the water up and stagger it. They compact the soil on banks like this, they pull the water out of the ground.

“It’s about prioritising maintenance and good care of these trees so we can retain the sponge-like properties of these rākau.”

He said a trained arborist would not remove trees unnecessarily, and would prefer to brace or prop them up first where possible.