Press statement regarding tree removal on Ōwairaka and other Maunga from The Tree Council
For immediate release: 12 November 2019
The Tree Council fully supports the Tūpuna Maunga Authority’s plans to restore indigenous native ecosystems on the
slopes of Ōwairaka (and the other 13 Maunga in Auckland) as part of the healing of the Maunga. The Tree Council has
always recognised the positive role that large established trees can play in our environment whether they are exotic or
native. However, the long-term outcomes of removing exotic and weed species and restoring the native ecology, not just
on one Maunga but between all of them, will be hugely positive for both Mt Albert residents and the whole of Auckland.
In August this year the first phase of the restoration plan for Ōwairaka was carried out with the planting of 2,700
native shrubs on the slopes with help from around 100 local residents. The plan is to plant 13,000 natives in the next
couple of years. The second phase is the removal of approximately 345 exotic trees from Ōwairaka. This work was planned
to commence this week under consents issued by Auckland Council.
The Tree Council would like to highlight that it is the express intention of the Tūpuna Maunga Authority’s Integrated
Management Plan to restore and enable the role and responsibility of Mana Whenua as kaitiaki over the Tūpuna Maunga
alongside recognition of European and other histories and interactions with the Maunga.
The Integrated Management Plan was publicly notified in April 2016 when members of the public were able to make
submissions on their views on what was being proposed. Over the last 12 months the Tūpuna Maunga Authority has been
running regular public Hui in relation to all aspects of their management of each of the Maunga. These Hui have provided
an opportunity for any member of the public to raise their concerns about the Integrated Management Plan and for the
Authority to explain the rationale behind specific elements of that Plan.
The Tree Council supports the objectives and vision for the Tūpuna Maunga contained within the Integrated Management
Plan. We recognise that whilst to many Aucklanders (ourselves included) these unique landscapes are highly valued
recreational spaces, to the Iwi these are treasures handed down through the generations with the tihi (summits) being
the most sacred places that have over time been seriously damaged by ill-advised and ill-informed developments,
including the exotic plantings imposed on the land.
We recognise that this is a cultural issue as much as it is an ecological one, and The Tree Council supports the Tūpuna
Maunga Authority's autonomy over how they want to manage their Maunga, having finally had them returned to them under
the Treaty after at least 180 years of colonial control.
We acknowledge the very real concerns that people feel about seeing established trees being removed from a familiar
landscape, but hopefully gaining a better understanding of the complete plans for restoring native vegetation and native
ecology to the slopes of Ōwairaka, and the other Maunga, and the reasoning behind those plans will allay some of those
concerns.