This is not some idyllic spot in the green hills of Titirangi. Believe it or not, this is an idyllic spot just a couple of bus stops from Downtown Auckland. So why, asks John Landrigan, does the city council want to chop down these glorious trees?
Children learn about the vital job that trees and their tangled root systems do to prevent land slips. So why are 2.5ha of native and exotic bush being removed from a central Auckland park?
Auckland City Council is removing thousands of trees from an area the size of three and a half rugby fields.
The "remedial'' work at Newmarket Park to prevent slips and seepage into a creek caused by a former rubbish tip is costing $5.3 million.
But concerned resident Ethne Thomas says it is rampant, unnecessary deforestation of the natural habitat of a large variety of exotic and native birds: pukeko, pheasants,
fantails, kingfishers, quails and moreporks. Two native skink species are being moved to neighbouring Ayr St Reserve.
Newmarket Park is a closed landfill, its southern slope said to be under threat of slips. Over the next two years, the council will rip out the existing plants, excavate, then rebuild the slope. It will then plant the area with native vegetation.
Mrs Thomas, whose home overlooks the impressive green belt, says it could be 30 years before a new forest is established and another 30 years before it reaches the maturity of some of the current trees.
She likens the removal of trees to opencast mining and dreads the chug of logging trucks, chainsaws and bulldozers at the park.
"Some of the bird species will never return. There are other unstable areas that the council are conserving in their natural state.''
Mrs Thomas has circulated a petition among her neighbours and says most were not aware of the scale of the project. She only found out about it in October and, after two months of badgering the council, she received the full engineers' report just last week.
"There are other options that could be explored further to prevent the destruction of this park,'' she says.
Mrs Thomas says a much cheaper option of controlling groundwater would limit disturbance to the slope and deserves further investigation.
Newmarket Protection Society was very vocal on plans for the park. Its president, Robin Bailey, says the society was told of drainage work but was not aware of the plan to strip the southern slope of its bush.
"There has been no opportunity for community input to this plan. We feel some direct contact should have been made.''
Auckland City Councillor Aaron Bhatnagar is happy with the consultation and passionate about removing the rubbish under the bush.
"This is a public safety risk. We have to reduce the risk to stop people being hurt. Children are playing on a tip. Is [Mrs Thomas's] view outside her home more important than public safety?''
The council commissioned a report from Tonkin and Taylor engineers, which says the
entire slope is fill and at risk of failure in the future.
"I am perfectly confident there is rubbish the length of the site,'' says Mr Bhatnagar. "There is a risk of discharge into the harbour. I have been to the site and seen sheets of corrugated iron, batteries, old television sets.''
NZ Forest and Bird spokesman Nick Beverage says he is satisfied with the proposal for
replanting the area and the rescue and relocation of the skinks. He says there is enough
surrounding vegetation for bird life.
Giving ground
Newmarket Park was originally cleared of native vegetation in the 1840s. On the western slope of Newmarket Stream gully, the park was previously known as Slaughterhouse Creek. The gully was a tip site in the 1920s.
A flat area was formed in the 1930s by cutting ridges and filling the valleys for an athletic track and stadium that remained until 1962. It hosted sporting greats such as Sir Peter Snell and Sir Murray Halberg.
After 1962 the Auckland Football Association built a vast terrace and a grandstand and the park became the national soccer stadium. Major internationals were played there until 1979 when a landslip carried away one grandstand, part of the playing field and damaged other facilities. In 1988, more subsidence undermined the terrace.
Later the council considered using it as a cultural theme park for European migrants, Japanese cultural centre, bowling green, botanical garden, rugby fields, driving range and plastic skifield.