KEY POINTS:
The tribal trust for a Far North iwi negotiating the return of a large sheep and cattle station south of Mangonui is condemning illegal tree-felling on the property by what it says is a breakaway group from the iwi.
Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa, represented by the Kahukuraariki Trust Board,
is preparing to take a Crown offer for the return of 2275ha Stony Creek Station, plus 770ha of other land, to iwi members after an agreement in principle was signed last month.
But within the last week, around 100 pine trees forming shelter belts on part of the property have been cut down and removed by digger and trucks, although it's not clear whether the trees have been milled.
Kaitaia police are investigating the tree-felling. They say it was undertaken by a contractor and inquiries are being made into who engaged the contractor for the work.
Associate Minister for Treaty Negotiations Shane Jones has described the tree-felling at Stony Creek as criminal.
He is urging an interim farm management committee to be set up at Stony Creek to stop further trouble on the property. In the past buildings on the farm have been occupied, stock moved without authority, fences destroyed and damaged and people caught trespassing.
The farm station, a former Landcorp block, is held by the Office of Treaty Settlements for use in settling local Maori land claims and is being offered back to all marae communities within Ngatikahu ki Whangaroa through the trust board.
A group within one hapu, Ngati Aukiwa, opposes the proposed settlement. They believe they have aboriginal (native) and customary rights to the land encompassed by Stony Creek and want the farm returned to them, a view rejected by the trust board which says it is the only one to have a mandate to negotiate with the Crown.
Trust board chair Manaaki Poto says maintaining the board's mandate has involved exhaustive reporting to the office on hui, consultation and financial accountability since getting the mandate in 2004.
There are no forests on the Stony Creek farm, but under the terms of the Crown's offer, the property would be returned to Maori as a working farm with stock, plant and equipment.
Board representative Thelma Day says it is looking to the office to resolve the tree-felling issue quickly.
"They [the office] own and manage the land at Stony Creek on behalf of the Crown. We don't want to see the land devalued by actions like this because we want it returned intact to the whole iwi."
A spokesman for the Ngati Aukiwa breakaway group could not be contacted yesterday.