My Account
A former consultant arborist and current ecologist has blasted Auckland Council for its neglect of trees in Kowhai Park.
Jack Warden, a senior ecologist and restoration manager at a Mahurangi ecological consultancy, says the demise of three totara trees at the park in Warkworth is related to a major carpark and toilet block upgrade to the park, which was completed in October 2017.
The dead trees, each about 17 metres tall, can be found clustered together near the carpark entrance.
Mr Warden says the design of the upgrade should have been modified to take account of the trees and careful monitoring taken place during excavations to ensure the trees’ roots were not damaged.
“That could definitely have prevented these trees being lost,” he says.
Mr Warden estimates the demise of the trees represents a monetary loss of $225,000. This would be the amount of money required to plant and maintain replacement trees comparable to the ones that have died. He says the loss of the trees is an act of vandalism comparable to somebody blowing up the new toilet block.
Mr Warden says the dead trees are now dangerous and people using Kowhai Park and motorists on the nearby Hill Street intersection could be struck by falling branches. He says the trees should be removed. However, Auckland Council arborist and ecological manager David Stejskal says the trees are inspected monthly and Council believes they are stable at the moment.
He adds that at the next inspection, a management plan will be drawn up for the continued care and monitoring of the dead trees.
Mr Stejskal says that Council engaged consultant arborists for the carpark project and considerable care was taken in the design of the carpark and during construction to protect the trees.
He says the trees were already showing signs of decline at the time of construction, and this was likely caused by people parking in the root zone of the trees for many years prior to the development of the carpark.
He says while the health of the trees could have been affected by the carpark development, multiple other factors could have caused their decline. These include a severe drought in 2019, which took a toll on many mature native trees.
