The truth about Tūpuna Maunga Authority’s plantings at Ōwairaka / Mt Albert
Tūpuna Maunga Authority’s entire plantings at Ōwairaka during 2021. The Authority claimed 265 were planted; we counted around 40. Note how herbicide has been used to kill vegetation in advance of planting. This herbicide will run off into the aquifer that feeds into Meola Creek and Western Springs.
Since 2019, Tūpuna Maunga Authority has routinely claimed it will be putting in 13,000 native plantings at Ōwairaka / Mt Albert. Although it has been vague on the timeframes, it would not be unreasonable to assume good progress would have been made thus far. We recently conducted research by way of official information requests and on-the-ground counting to see what progress has been made (as of October 2021) and the results are underwhelming to say the least. It is clear there is zero intention to “cloak” the maunga in trees!
Please note the Authority’s plans show that no plantings are planned for the areas where the exotic trees currently are, so our tree-saving efforts will not have hindered any aspect of the native planting programme.
Plantings 2019 - 2021
Here’s what the Authority claims to have planted so far (source: LGOIMA response dated 30 September 2021):
2019: 2700 plants
2020: 2245 plants
2021: 235 plants (We counted around 40 - what happened to the other 200?)
This is a total of 5180 native plants apparently put in at Ōwairaka so far. Yet we recently counted all the new native plantings we could find and came up with a total of around 1500. That’s 3680 short of what was apparently planted. We know many have died, and we know in some cases there is a gap between what the Authority says was planted, and what was actually planted. Either way, that’s a huge waste of ratepayers’ money and certainly not going to come even close to replacing the carbon sequestration, amenity value and habitats that would be lost if they fell the exotic trees.
But it’s even worse than that…
Most of these planned native plants are small!
As you will see in the planting plan below, only three of the planned native species will grow to 10 m or more at maturity.
When reading the table below, consider the average height of these doomed exotic trees at the maunga:
Oak = 20 m (there are 17 oaks on the maunga)
Olive = 8-15 m (the are 17 olives on the maunga)
Flame tree = 15-20 m (there is 1 flame tree on the maunga)
Japanese cherry: 6-12 m (there are 130 cherry trees on the maunga)
Eucalyptus: 20-30 m (there are 100 eucalyptus on the maunga)
Poplar = 30 m (there are 8 poplars on the maunga)
Jacaranda = 20 m (there is 1 jacaranda on the maunga)
Native species planted 2019 - 2021
| 2019 species | Max height | 2020 species | Max height | 2021 species | Max height |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austroderia fulvida (toe toe) ⠀ | 3-5 m when in flower | Asplenium oblongifolium (spleenwort / huruhuruwhenua) | 1.5 m | Dodonaea viscosa (Akeake) ⠀ | 10 m |
| Carex lambertiana (sedge) ⠀ | 0.8 m | Astelia banksia (Wharawhara) (spleenwort / huruhuruwhenua) | 1-2 m | Muehlenbeckia complexa (Pohuehue) ⠀ | scrambling |
| Carex testacea (sedge) ⠀ | 0.8 m | Blechnum novae-zelandiae (kiokio) | 2 m | Phormium cookianum (mountain flax) ⠀ | 1 m |
| Coprosma lucida ⠀ | 6 m | Carex lambertiana (sedge) | 1 m | Veronica stricta (hebe / koromiko) ⠀ | 2 m |
| Coprosma rhamnoides (twiggy coprosma) ⠀ | 2 m | Coprosma rhamnoides (twiggy coprosma) | 2 m | - ⠀ | - |
| Coprosma robusta (karamu) ⠀ | 6 m | Coprosma robusta (karamu) | 6 m | - ⠀ | - |
| Doodia australis (syn. Blechnum parrisiae) (fern) ⠀ | 1 m | Corynocarpus laevigatus (karaka) | 15 m | - ⠀ | - |
| Geniostoma ligustrifolium var. ligustrifolium (hangehange) ⠀ | 4 m | Dodonaea viscosa (akeake) | 10 m | - ⠀ | - |
| Leptospermum scoparium var. scoparium (manuka) ⠀ | 2-5 m | Doodia australis (fern) | 1 m | - ⠀ | - |
| Melicytus ramiflorus (mahoe) ⠀ | 2-5 m | Entelea arborescens (whau) | 8 m | - ⠀ | - |
| Muehlenbeckia complexa (pohuehue) ⠀ | scrambling | Muehlenbeckia complexa (pohuehue) | scrambling | - ⠀ | - |
| Myrsine australis (mapau) ⠀ | 6 m | Phormium cookianum (mountain flax) | 1 m | - ⠀ | - |
| Phormium cookianum (mountain flax) ⠀ | 1 m | Phormium tenax (flax / harakeke) | 1-3 m incl flower | - ⠀ | - |
| - ⠀ | - | Pseudopanax lessonii (houpara) | 6 m | - ⠀ | - |
| - ⠀ | - | Rhopalostylis sapida (nikau) | 15 m | - ⠀ | - |
| - ⠀ | - | Veronica stricta (hebe) | 2 m | - ⠀ | - |
Money down the drain
According to Tūpuna Maunga Authority, the cost of those plants by year (excluding GST) are as follows:
2019: $7721.69
2020: 8185.99
2021: 852.63
That’s a total of $16,760.31 . Compare that to the estimated cost of more than $1.1 million to fell Ōwairaka’s exotic trees, including a budget of $30,000 for helicopter removal of an individual tree. These are 2019 prices, so will have gone up significantly since then.
Want to help stop this madness on the maunga?
Write to your local Auckland Council and Local Board representatives to express concern about the Council continuing to vote the budget that the Authority needs to carry out its environmentally destructive plans on Auckland's maunga. Ask the representatives to let you know whether or not they support the tree felling and remind them you will be taking their response into account when voting in the 2022 local body elections. See here for a list of Auckland Councillors and here for a list of local boards and members
You can also donate to help us continue fighting to save the trees.
PS: We are compiling a list of Auckland Council and Local Board members who do / don't support Tupuna Maunga Authority's tree felling plans. So please do email us to let us know of any responses you receive.