Several tracks and some local parks across Auckland are being temporarily closed or rerouted as part of efforts to protect kauri against the risk of kauri dieback disease.
Contractors will start placing signs and barriers at affected track entrances from 5 June through to about mid-June.
Tracks or local parks currently set for full or partial closure to protect kauri are in the Rodney, Hibiscus and Bays, Waitākere Ranges, Henderson-Massey, Ōrākei, Papakura, Upper Harbour, Howick and Waiheke local board areas.
Track and park information is available in this document.
Precautionary approach
Auckland Council Biosecurity Manager, Kauri Dieback, Lisa Tolich, says the closures are about taking a proactive and precautionary approach.
“The parks and tracks identified for temporary closure fall into one of two categories: They are sites where kauri dieback disease is present, or they contain significant kauri stands. This measure allows us to protect them while developing solutions for the future, including investing in mitigations like track upgrades.
“The reality is some of the tracks in our local parks are not ‘kauri safe’, meaning they are too close to kauri roots and the dirt tracks increase the risk of contaminated soil being moved around," says Ms Tolich.
The closures and re-routing will remain in place until options for the longer-term protection of kauri has been investigated and mitigation works carried out.
Programme of works
Staff will be reporting back to the various local boards in around August this year with a recommended programme of works.
“We have a certain amount of funding to carry out this work and we will be going back to local boards to outline the prioritised work we can carry out with that budget and if they want us to do more local boards will need to allocate funding.”
The council is also working with community and volunteer groups that carry out weed and pest control projects in the impacted parks by offering training to ensure they are up to speed with preventing kauri dieback spread while doing this work.
Targeted rate supports fight against kauri dieback
This mitigation response programme has been enabled by the council’s natural environment targeted rate, which ring-fenced $105 million of additional funding over 10 years to support the management of kauri dieback across the Auckland region.
This funding will support the protection of high-value kauri ecosystems and minimise the risk of spreading the disease.
In addition to infrastructure projects, the programme has workstreams dedicated to surveillance and monitoring, engagement and behaviour change, compliance, research and treatment.
Find out more about Auckland Council’s work to protect kauri.
