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Work has finally started on clearing more than three years of rampant wilding pine, pampas and other pest plant growth on the Auckland Council-owned forestry block on the corner of Leigh and Ti Point Roads.
A digger arrived on site last week and started clearing a fire break buffer, with aerial spraying of weedkiller by helicopter expected to follow as soon after that as weather conditions allowed.
It is the first stage of a three-year weed eradication plan drawn up by Council with Treescape – the aerial drop will be followed by two further applications by staff on the ground, the first straight after the helicopter spray and the second six months later. The process will be repeated in the second year, followed by targeted maintenance of any reinfested areas in year three.
The news that clearance work was finally starting has come as a huge relief to local residents, who have been lobbying Council to act since pine trees were harvested and the weeds started to take hold in 2019.
Council was also taken to task over the issue by Rodney Local Board in July, with former member Beth Houlbrooke critical of time delays and a lack of communication with the Board and community, calling the site “an ecological disaster”.
Linus Wood is one of the founders of the Ti Point Forest Project, which wants to make the land a reserve planted with native forest species and has put forward its own plan of action to Council.
He said it was great news that something was happening at last, although he questioned how contractors would keep on top of weed reinfestation.
“If you have a patch of weeds and clear it, something else will grow there immediately,” he said. “That’s why we proposed planting it out with natives – it’s the only way to keep them gone.”
He said that in the longer term, the forest project group would like to have walking and biking tracks through the 11-hectare site, and planting it with indigenous trees would make it a valuable wildlife corridor for native species.
Council said the chemical being used to kill the weeds was DOC approved, would not harm animals and spraying would only be carried out on fine days when plants would absorb the spray, to limit run-off.
A spokesperson added that community organisations and neighbouring residents would be kept informed and consulted over the next 18 months.
The site includes a former landfill and was planted with pine trees 30 years ago, which were originally due to be harvested in 2013. However, that was postponed following the discovery of kauri snails, a protected species, and around 50 snails and 22 eggs were subsequently discovered and relocated to Auckland Zoo. The pine trees were finally harvested between 2017 and 2019.
