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Waitakere
Ranges Protection Society criticizes Auckland Regional Council over
kauri rot
20.06.10
The Waitakere Ranges Protection Society (WRPS)have lambasted the Auckland Regional
Council (ARC), for its failure to take effective action, in halting the spread
of PTA (Phytopthora taxon Agathis), a mould that causes the collar rot fatal
to kauri.
Writing in their latest newsletter Society President said: "The news that kauri dieback disease has been found in the Waipoua forest within 500 metres of Tane Mahuta is most concerning, since we know that this disease can be spread at an alarming rate by people, pigs, and water." He went on to say that the disease is now endemic in the quite a few areas in the ranges with the disease being entrenched in the Maungaroa ridge above Piha. He added that the Society had been asking the Auckland Regional Council for track closures to quarantine the area to no avail." The Society first asked ARC for track closures 12 months ago.
When asked to further comment Mr Edgar said:"I do think that Waitakere City Council needs to do more on protocols to halt the spread of the disease onto or off private land."
Waitkare News asked Waitakere's two ARC Councillors Sandra Coney, and Paul Walbran for comment on the issue. Coney is also the ARC Chair of the Parks and Heritage Committee, the Committee responsible for dealing with the issue.She said: "The ARC has been taking many measures to address kauri PTA since it was confirmed as a new disease present in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park in 2008. The Council (ARC) has undertaken a comprehensive precautionary approach throughout the park and its 256km track network.
This includes cleaning stations, signage, track surveys to assess symptoms, and hygiene procedures being put in place for staff, contractors and volunteers who work in the park. Public meetings and displays at community events have also helped spread the message and prior to the formation of the collaborative Long Term Management team the ARC funded the research programme by Landcare Research. The ARC is also taking measures in the Hunua Ranges which contains many kauri but is not showing signs of PTA. It has visited many private land owners concerned about their trees and provided advice and equipment they may need.
Our parks department is also implementing best practice for the maintenance and development of tracks including trialling different track surface materials, to assess whether these can help maintain tracks to a high standard and assist kauri health.
We are currently undertaking aerial surveys of the Waitakere Ranges, which are nearly complete. This work is covering all of the Ranges, looking for and photographing symptoms of ill thrift in the forest canopy. This information will be mapped so on the ground surveys can assess the symptoms and take samples to assess if PTA is the cause.
The closing of tracks or quarantining of areas is something the ARC is not opposed to, but there would have to be a good likelihood that would successfully protect kauri in the area and it would have to be practically enforceable. It is only with more detailed information about where kauri dieback disease is and isn't present that we can look more closely at track closures, or for that matter other options for the protection of kauri health such as re-routing or re-surfacing tracks, although work in this direction is underway and some tracks have had such work completed.
As the Waitakere representatives on the Auckland Regional Council we are committed to looking after the Waitakere Ranges and its wildlife, while still maintaining access for the public as much as we can without harming the ecological values of the park.
WN also asked
Waitakere City Council Deputy Mayor for her view. In an email response
she said:" This is
what we are doing:
- We have created disinfection car kits and placed them in all Parks vehicles
- We have made hygiene notices and placed these in all Parks vehicles
- We have done training with all other teams and showed them how to make
their own car kits
- We have worked with the Consents team so they can write consent conditions
and advice notes into consents to reduce the spread of the disease
- We are working closely with the ARC to provide ID training to all staff
- We are working closely with ARC to share knowledge; we have a GIS map of
all known diseased and tested trees in Waitakere
- ARC is currently surveying all parks in Waitakere known to contain kauri
trees and checking them for disease symptoms
- We are still waiting on Biosecurity NZ to award any funds to local councils
so we can do more work
- We have presented to ARC the name of a disinfectant that is being tested
as a cheaper alternative to Trigene
- We have established warning signs in parks that are in the vicinity of
known diseased tree locations
- We receive regular updates from the ARC on how they are progressing work,
research and surveys
- We have presented reports to Council to update them on such
"We've done everything in our power and more. The only thing we have not done
is seek more funding from Council to respond to this disease and that's because
ARC has offered to undertake the work for us. Once the full survey results are
in we will put more signs at those parks and work out a plan with the ARC for
disinfection kits."
