Deliberate and accidental destruction of trees at Shepherds Park has Beach Haven locals gunning for the culprits, writes Kirsten Grant
Vandals and council contractors have destroyed four years of restoration at Beach Haven's Shepherds Park. The chairman of Shepherds Park management committee, Victor E Bond, says display panels at the heritage
centre in the park were shattered in late October, excrement was spread over a barbecue bench and an entire plantation of maturing natives smashed. He says damage was spread over the week, with five trees along the main drive also damaged while council-employed contractors mowed down part of a 100m-long area of the volunteer group's plantings below Fay Sara Track. ``A strip of ground between the plantings and grass is kept clear to allow mowers some clearance, so there was no need for this,'' says Mr Bond. He says other damage occurred above the tennis courts, where some of the shelter belt trees were ring-barked with line trimmers. ``These trees will not survive. That will set that part of the project back four years.'' Mr Bond walks his dog in the park every day and has been keeping a close eye on progress. ``They've started replanting trees. We've got to make sure they do it now rather than next planting season. It means we'll have to water them, but we can do that.'' Parks liaison officer Julie Pickering says contractors did accidentally damage some of the planting. ``They have made good the damage,'' she says. Mr Bond has lived between Shepherds Park and Tui Park for more than 20 years and says Tui Park has also experienced damage in the past. He says the culprits are the same group of delinquents. ``It's the ratepayers' money going west. We supply free labour.'' He says the vandals had damaged trees that were 15 years old. Some, such as kauri, which are very sensitive, would not recover. The 79-year-old says the park is very popular, with school groups often visiting its heritage centre which houses the history of Beach Haven. ``It has a selection of early photos. The park has many different purposes: picnics, sports fields, there's a soccer club, plus tennis and squash courts. ``It is bad enough when doped-up hoons run amok in our park, but devastating when council officers ignoring the existence of a management committee turn unsupervised and inexperienced contractors loose on our projects,'' says Mr Bond.
