Editorial: Bring back our native heritage

For all its swank and pointy shoes, it's Wellington's urban soundtrack I miss the most.

Filter out the blur and whir of coffee joints and you'll pick up on a few charming notes of tui, bellbird or any assortment of native birds.

I'm guessing the primordial birdsong has everything to do with the capital's bounty of endemic trees.

I'm insanely jealous.

In stark contrast, the Bay's introduced dawn chorus rattles with mynahs, starlings and sparrows, crooning from their introduced perches of elm, pin oaks and plane trees.

Our northern hemisphere treescape means postcards from Hawke's Bay could easily be postcards from Essex, Suffolk or Nottinghamshire.

And it's why I'm gobsmacked Hastings District Council is poised to introduce introduced trees to its inner-city streets. The one dissenter at a meeting earlier this year, Deputy Mayor Cynthia Bowers, secured my vote by suggesting we opt for native cabbage trees, and sparked much arboreal argument on our letters page.

It's fair to say the council has historically made shocking urban tree choices. Hastings streets are resplendent with melia, which drop hard, yellow, poisonous, slip-happy fruit everywhere. Its successor, the olive tree, has been slammed by retailers who don't appreciate their floors being used as olive presses.

My theory is our penchant for exotic trees seems to be a type of horticultural cringe; a throwback to our colonists' stance that Shaky Isles' specimens were inferior to anything grown back in the Empire.

Whatever the reason, we're poorer for it. DoC figures show the Heretaunga ecological region now boasts just 3 per cent of its original native vegetation.

If specimen suitability's the main criteria for the new streetscape, then what could be more suitable that a tree nature chose for this area? Remember we already owe this province a debt.

I'm amazed it's even up for discussion, and equally amazed the council is on the brink of committing a hat-trick of stuff-ups.

All it tells me, and no doubt visitors to the region, is that we're happy to recognise our botanical heritage only as it applies to our economy. Must we celebrate only the blossom and grape?

With our grandchildren in mind, here's hoping the council takes the first step on the road to restoring our original soundtrack.