The Tūpuna Maunga Authority has taken steps to appeal a court decision refusing it permission to replace 345 exotic trees on Ōwairaka Mt Albert with 13,000 native trees and plants.
Earlier this month, the authority indicated it may dispute the finding, and nowit has formally sought leave to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
"It is vital for the authority to have a decision from the highest court in the land to provide clarity surrounding its co-governance decision-making powers to manage the Tūpuna Maunga," authority chair Paul Majurey (Ngāti Maru) said Wednesday.
In early March, the Court of Appeal set aside the authority's decision to fell the trees saying proper consultation had not been carried out and Auckland Council should have publicly notified the resource consent application.
The TMA, established through a 2014 Treaty of Waitangi settlement which returned ownership of the city's 14 tūpuna maunga (ancestral mountains) to 13 iwi, originally planned to remove 345 exotic trees and plant 13,000 natives on the maunga as part of a citywide restoration project.
Under the 2014 settlement, the maunga are held in trust by the iwi for the "common benefit of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau and the other people of Auckland", and have reserve status.
They are managed by the TMA, with iwi and council representatives, which exercises its powers having regard to "the spiritual, ancestral, cultural, customary, and historical significance of the maunga to Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau".
