Rotorua Trails Trust communications and administration superstar Kris O'Driscoll says it is frustrating to be targeted by thieves at such a busy time of year. Photo / David Beck
Rotorua Trails Trust communications and administration superstar Kris O'Driscoll says it is frustrating to be targeted by thieves at such a busy time of year. Photo / David Beck
"It's the worst timing possible."
Rotorua Trails Trust staff and volunteers are frustrated and disappointed this week after thieves broke into a shed and helped themselves to vital gear.
The not-for-profit next to the Redwoods i-Site is responsible for developing and maintaining trails throughout Rotorua enjoyed by thousands ofpeople, including walkers, runners, mountain bikers and horse riders.
Kris O'Driscoll, the trust's "communications and administration superstar" said staff discovered the break-in on Monday.
She said it looked like the culprits first broke into a trust ute and tried to hotwire it, destroying the ignition.
She believed they then used a tyre iron from the ute to break the lock on the gear shed.
"They took two large brush cutters, a weed eater, some petrol, one of our radios and some other bits and pieces.
Rotorua Trails Trust communications and administration superstar Kris O'Driscoll says it is frustrating to be targeted by thieves at such a busy time of year. Photo / David Beck
"They're tools that are really important this time of year because we're trying to do all the vegetation control. The weeds, with all the sun and the rain we've had, are just going nuts. Trying to do it with anything smaller is useless so, timing-wise, this couldn't be worse.
"It's a real process just dealing with it all - I spent pretty much my whole first day back dealing with it."
Security cameras in the area caught people walking through about 2.30am. The footage has been given to police, O'Driscoll said.
She speculated the thieves intended to use the items rather than sell them.
"There was a whole bunch of other tools in there so it looked like they specifically went for the brush cutters, which were kind of tucked in at the back of the shed."
Thieves smashed through a lock to get into the Rotorua Trails Trust gear shed. Photo / David Beck
O'Driscoll said the Trails Trust received "fantastic" support from the community, through donations, memberships and discounts, so the thieves were effectively stealing from the community.
"Everything we do and get is put back into the forest so it's really hard when we're trying to do this work and we get hamstrung this way.
"There's thousands of people who use the forest daily and it's such an asset to the community - this is just really frustrating.
"The work in the forest has been going on for 30 years and has been largely volunteer-based. The trust has been around five years with paid staff for two and a half, there's a huge history of work that has gone into that forest, a lot of community involvement.
"Lakeland Chainsaws and Mowers have said they'll come to the party and help subsidise some of the tools we're trying to replace."
Mountain Bike Rotorua also showed their support by offering temporary storage space while the trust repairs their shed and looks at options for preventing further break-ins.
Mountain Bike Rotorua co-owner Tak Mutu said the Trails Trust's work was "amazing".
"It's not just the mountain bike community, the Trails Trust have been a key pillar in developing recreational facilities around Rotorua," he said.
"They're maintaining and building walking tracks, equestrian facilities and of course the mountain bike tracks. They're a massive part of this community so it's such a shame to have something so bad happen.
"We've offered them free space closer to us at one of our sites. We all lean on each other in the hard times and help each other out as well as enjoy the good times together."
Anyone who has information about the break-in can call police on 105 and quote file number 210111/8213.
Anyone wanting to help out and support the Rotorua Trails Trust can sign up for a membership or make a donation at rotoruatrailstrust.co.nz
