It’s absolutely crazy — and those opposed include Maori

Although some amoral property businessmen regard trees and birds as a nusiance, the explanation for this destruction is just banal: native trees = good, non-native trees = bad.

The 2500 includes 345 at Ōwairaka /Mt Albert. Destroying nearly half of this maunga’s tree cover in a five week period will do great harm to this Special Ecological Area. Here are some of the many reasons we are fighting so hard to save the trees Ōwairaka and other maunga too.

A mock-up of how this current view (top) at Ōwairaka will look if the exotic trees are felled (bottom).
A mock-up of how this current view (top) at Ōwairaka will look if the exotic trees are felled (bottom).

“If we want to use forests as a weapon in the fight against climate change, then we must allow them to grow old, which is exactly what large conservation groups are asking us to do.”

— Peter WohlleBen, The Hidden Life of Trees

It takes more than 100 years for some native tree species such as totara to reach maturity. In the meantime, how can a small sapling possibly provide the same level of carbon sequestration, and food / homes for birds and insects as this grand old ma…
It takes more than 100 years for some native tree species such as totara to reach maturity. In the meantime, how can a small sapling possibly provide the same level of carbon sequestration, and food / homes for birds and insects as this grand old macrocarpa does?
Birds and trees immediately spring to mind when thinking about this issue, but we are also fighting for all of the maunga’s life-forms, both seen and unseen- like this cute wee Onychiurus. This sweet wee unsung hero of the maunga’s gorgeous ecosyste…
Birds and trees immediately spring to mind when thinking about this issue, but we are also fighting for all of the maunga’s life-forms, both seen and unseen- like this cute wee Onychiurus. This sweet wee unsung hero of the maunga’s gorgeous ecosystem was found with many others in moist soil at back of Archery Field one night. Honour the Maunga’s Tom Ang, who photographed it, says: “A teaspoon full of topsoil could have a dozen of them as they’re 0.5mm – 2mm long. So there are billions on the maunga. They are busy wee janitors of our beloved earth.”This introduced species helps to decompose leaf litter, etc.(Techie bits: Onychiurus probably O. armatus syn Protophorura armatus: 32X optical)
Here’s where your rates are going. Dead and neglected plantings following the exotic tree felling at Mangere. As you can see, the native seedlings were staked to the ground, many still in their plastic pots then left to fend for themselves. Unsurpri…
Here’s where your rates are going. Dead and neglected plantings following the exotic tree felling at Mangere. As you can see, the native seedlings were staked to the ground, many still in their plastic pots then left to fend for themselves. Unsurprisingly, most died.
There used to be a grove of around 100 old olives here on Mt Richmond / Ōtahuhu until the Authority had them all felled in 2019. Now there is nothing to stabilise the steep slope. A local woman, Shirley Waru (Te Rarawa o Ngāpui / Te Uri o Tai) pla…
There used to be a grove of around 100 old olives here on Mt Richmond / Ōtahuhu until the Authority had them all felled in 2019. Now there is nothing to stabilise the steep slope. A local woman, Shirley Waru (Te Rarawa o Ngāpui / Te Uri o Tai) plans to occupy this maunga to protect the remaining trees should the chainsaws come out again.

“If there were no trees around, we would suffocate…In the course of this particular pandemic that we’re going through, I think people are discovering that they need the natural world for their very sanity. People who have never listened to a bird song, are suddenly thrilled, excited, supported, inspired by the natural world. And they realize they’re not apart from it. They are part of it.”

– Sir David Attenborough

Weed-killer was heavily applied on a slope at Ōwairaka / Mount Albert before some small native species were planted. There is virtually no topsoil underneath the kikuyu grass - just scoria.
Weed-killer was heavily applied on a slope at Ōwairaka / Mount Albert before some small native species were planted. There is virtually no topsoil underneath the kikuyu grass – just scoria.

It’s a Climate Emergency says Auckland Council – we need trees more than ever before

Auckland Council and the Central Government have both declared Climate Emergencies. It is a well-known fact that mature trees, of any types, are the best defense against Climate Change. Felling around 2500 healthy mature trees on Auckland’s volcanic cones will open those fragile micro-environments up to increased temperatures, wind exposure, soil erosion and run-off.

The Authority’s planned plantings may never sequester the same amount of carbon as the trees they plan to fell

Tūpuna Maunga Authority says it plans more than 9000 plantings to replace the 345 trees it intends to fell on Ōwairaka. What they don’t tell people is that the vast majority of those plantings will be low-growing species such as grasses, flaxes and sedges (like motorway plantings).The trees to be planted will be young saplings, which will take decades – if not centuries – to replace the sequestered carbon lost by felling the exotic trees.

Harmful effects on nesting birds

Had Honour the Maunga not intervened in November 2019 then all of Ōwairaka’s trees would have been felled in a five-week period during bird nesting season!A survey of native bird nests had been done before the intended felling start date and those trees roped off, but it was clear that the survey was cursory. For example, ruru (morepork) and kōtare (kingfisher) nest in cavities high up in trees – it would be impossible to spot their nests from the ground.

DoC officials were also concerned about this, stating that any nesting birds would be adversely affected by disturbance from chainsaws and helicopters nearby. Felling nearly half the maunga’s trees will destroy food, shelter and homes for many birds and other life-forms.

The Auckland Council’s own native forest restoration guide states: “Reptiles and invertebrates … thrive in forest fragments with low pest numbers and plenty of moist soil, rotting logs, and thick leaf litter.”

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