Letters: Titirangi toilets, kauri dieback and beach life at Huia

Titirangi toilets, kauri dieback and beach life at Huia

Dear Editor,

Over Labour Weekend I was given a copy of the June edition of The Fringe magazine. I was referred to the article concerning the proposed toilets under the notable rimu tree outside the building our family owns.

In the interest of balance you should be aware of our involvement in the process.

Council reluctantly followed our suggestion to reposition one door and our insistence that the stonework be genuine not just a fake finish. Beyond that we were given no consideration.

In my opinion what is far more newsworthy is what we learned along the way from Council: 1. Council sold the site at the corner of South Titirangi Road and Titirangi Road for $600,000. With the sale the public toilets disappeared. The extremely low sale price was because the purchaser was obliged to retain the existing toilets in position until the new ones were built in a preallocated area on the same site. This is confirmed by the Sale and Purchase agreement. 2. Council claimed that investigating a new position for the toilets cost in excess of $300,000. 3. Council claimed that preparing for the hearing and planning for the new spot under the rimu cost in excess of a further $300,000. 4. The Council contingent at the hearing was 18 in total including staff members and consultants which gives some credence to items 2 and 3 above. In addition Council had the costs of the Commissioners. 5. The cost of the hearing and the building of new toilets is expected to exceed a further $500,000.

No credible explanation was offered to us as to why Council abandoned its rightful position with the existing toilets and embarked on the current saga to place the toilets under the most notable tree in Titirangi although I did hear a Council arborist state at the hearing that building under the drip line and cutting the roots wouldn’t affect this particular tree. It doesn’t seem that long ago that Council claimed that chooks could kill the same tree by eating under it.

Ratepayers may feel they have some razor sharp business acumen in charge of their rates money.

Yours faithfully, W F Titchener.

Ed: In the October Fringe we reported that Council had advised us that work on the new toilets would begin in March 2023. This has now been corrected. Work on the new toilets should be starting in February 2022.

Dear Editor,

The kauri dieback issue has generated a lot of angst and conflicting information. I would like to offer some personal observations.

From 1966 to the present, I have tramped extensively throughout the Ranges, and was a Waitākere Ranges Regional Park ranger from 1975 to 2012. I have always had a keen interest in kauri.

I noticed large clumps of young kauri exhibiting high mortality due to competition for light and space from trees growing too close together. I also noted many giant kauri which had died due to old age. In the Far North there is evidence of two or three layers of ancient kauri forests destroyed by natural cataclysm. Kauri weakens the surrounding soil by leaching nutrients making the trees susceptible to disease and pests. I discovered that about 50% of kauri seed is infertile; that 90% of seed is eaten by wētā; and that for seed to germinate it needs to fall on ground that is exposed to sunlight.

I theorised that because of these factors, kauri could well be in decline in the Waitākere Ranges. And this has been confirmed by Alan Esler, the then DSIR botanist for Auckland and other observers.

So, given that the species is in a state of natural decline, is the battle to ‘save’ kauri from the ravages of PTA logical, let alone winnable?

I wonder whether Council’s aerial surveys distinguish between death from PTA or death from competition (i.e. trees growing too close together). The kauri dieback FAQ sheet doesn’t list old age as a cause of tree mortality, and ignores rain and pigs as vectors.

Compliance at footwear cleaning stations is far from ideal. Runners are roaming freely over large areas of the track network. Unless compliance can be guaranteed at 100% it is not going to be effective. But feet are not the only vector of PTA spores.

I have seen PTA-affected kauri in parts of the Ranges where no human feet have been. On one very steep spur, a band of kauri trees grows from the top of the spur to the bottom: the lower trees are dead, and mortality diminishes as altitude increases, showing rain water is a prime vector, and that can’t be controlled; nor feral pigs or people travelling off-track. The 2016 survey found a lot of dieback on, and near tracks, so humans were presumed to be the cause. But in times of heavy rain, many tracks become waterways, and excess water spills into the surrounding forest. Spores could have been spread in this way. The survey identifies streams and waterways as possible vectors, but not rain, the effects of which are more widespread.

– John Walsh, Green Bay.

Dear Fringe Media,

Thank you for your informative and colourful publication that we receive in our letterboxes each month. It’s much appreciated. I thought I would let you know some of the activities people have been up to in Huia. During the last couple of months with storms and rain, a lot of driftwood, sticks and fibre have been washed up on the beach. During lockdown local youth, children and parents have been building small huts and displays of what life may be like if stranded on an island somewhere. It’s been exciting and interesting when going for a walk along the beach to find out what’s been made. One day there was even a bicycle made of sticks, it looked great! Another activity, when the tide is out, is to go ‘mudwalking’ – we take our shoes off and go out into the muddy bay and walk out to the water’s edge. It’s invigorating and fun, feels good for your feet and it’s good exercise, especially in summer.

Thank you, Tuula Faire