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The owner of a kauri plantation near Wellsford says Auckland Council policies have allowed kauri dieback disease to run rampant in his forest and is refusing to divulge techniques he has developed to control the disease.
Graeme Logue has a 16-hectare block of kauri forest which his father planted about 80 years ago. The family has selectively felled the plantation for personal use on their 121ha farm, thinning out areas of the forest to increase growth rates.
They also established Logues Bush Scenic Reserve, to protect a stand of original kauri forest from clear-cut logging.
But, about 40 years ago, some trees began showing signs of kauri dieback, in what could be one of the first cases on mainland New Zealand.
Kauri dieback was only formally confirmed in the Waitakere Ranges in 2008 and is thought to have first established in NZ on Great Barrier Island in the early 1970s.
Mr Logue managed the disease by cutting down infected trees before they died and treating the stumps with diesel. He says he has now developed a treatment method using copper sulphate, which has even been successful in helping diseased trees to recover.
But about 16 years ago the Rodney District Council classified the forest as a Significant Natural Area, sight unseen, which prevented him from felling or treating diseased trees.
Graeme tried to have the classification removed during a Council hearing about a decade ago, but that was declined due to the ecological values of the forest.
“They just wanted to save every bit of forest, regardless of how it came to be,” Graeme says. “I don’t want to cut the bush down, just thin it to allow it to grow and maintain it.
There’s a lot of work in maintaining a native plantation.”
The forest has now been classified as a Significant Ecological Area (SEA) by Auckland Council and Graeme is again appealing to have the classification removed.
Last year, for the first time, Council staff went and inspected the forest and agreed that the SEA classification should be removed as it was a planted forestry block.
The case still had to be heard as part of the Unitary Plan hearings and Mr Logue will have to wait at least six months to hear the final verdict.
But, over the past 15 years, Mr Logue says dieback has killed dozens of trees and the family can’t even walk in the forest due to the risk the dead trees will come crashing down.
Family friend and former forestry ranger Jim Riley says Council’s inaction has turned the formerly productive and healthy forest into a serious hazard.
“I have never experienced the quantity and the danger from standing dead snags in any other forest,” Mr Riley says.
“If anyone tries to fell a dead tree and gets killed, Council should be responsible for creating an unsafe workplace.”
Council says felling diseased trees is not permitted under SEA rules and a resource consent would be required.
“Consent could be granted to chop down such a tree if it was accepted there was a health and safety concern.
Conditions requiring appropriate management of the risk of Kauri Dieback would be attached to any such consent.”
Removing dead trees is permitted, however any timber has to remain on site or go to landfill.
Fed up with dealing with the process, Mr Logue says he is unwilling to divulge his strategies for fighting kauri dieback.
“It’s just ruined the last 10 to 15 years,” Mr Logue says. “I’ve had to pay rates on it and haven’t been able to do anything with it.”
Auckland Council biosecurity principle advisor Dr Nick Waipara says it is possible that kauri dieback has been in the region for over 40 years. But it is difficult to conclusively say what the cause of diseased kauri could have been as environmental factors and other diseases could also be to blame.
