Human rights lawyer Deborah Manning leads fight over Western Springs pines

Tuesday, 23 July 2019

Aerial view of WEstern Springs Forest before the felling of 200 mature pines (video first published in February 2020).

A prominent human rights lawyer will face-off against Auckland Council this week over plans to cut down an ageing pine forest.

The issue arose in 2015, when the council determined the pines in Western Springs were past their life expectancy, declining rapidly and posed a risk to public safety.

But Deborah Manning, a human rights lawyer who featured in the case of Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui, stands firmly against the project.

Manning says the understory of the forest, which contains native flora, would be destroyed if the pines are cleared.

“There are only a few trees at risk of falling that need to be managed in this forest,” she said.

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Auckland Council wants to clear the pines so it can return the area to native bush and plant 10,000 trees.

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“Clearfelling all 200 pine trees would destroy the understory of the forest, which includes many native flora and fauna.”

The understory refers to the layer of vegetation that grows between the forest canopy and the forest floor.

Manning wants the forest managed with a tree by tree assessment, which would involve removing only the trees deemed at risk of falling.

Auckland Council wants to remove the pines to return the area to native forest. The restoration project will involve planting 10,000 native trees.

Waitematā Local Board deputy chair Shale Chambers said in 2018 the plan had been delayed so all options could be reviewed.

'No one wants trees removed unneccessarily,' he said.

'But a visit to Auckland Zoo, where pines made way for Te Wao Nui native precinct, shows the potential to create a special urban native bush experience in Western Springs.'

The local board made the decision in 2015 to proceed with the regeneration project and earlier this year obtained a resource consent.

Chairwoman Pippa Coom said the local board could decide to not go ahead with the resource consent if there were good reasons to stop the project.

“But this would effectively mean closing off the area for as long as it takes for the 200 pine trees to fall naturally,“ she said.

'In the meantime there would be no track access, no pest control and no planting up to 10,000 plants to regenerate the native bush.'

Auckland Council closed off a track in 2018, citing the deteriorating health and stability of the remaining trees and public safety reasons.

There were originally 506 pines in the area, but a 2016 survey found the live population had declined to about 200 after many had died or fallen.

If the project went ahead, an independent ecologist would provide oversight to limit the damage to the understory as the pines were removed, she said.

'At the most extreme there could be up to 50 percent damage to low level plants, but due to the change in methodology it is likely to be a lot less.'

Manning and a band of locals appealed the resource consent decision in June and the Environment Court last Thursday directed both parties to mediation.

On Friday, both parties will attempt to settle the dispute and avoid it going to court.

If Auckland Council is successful, the pine trees will be cleared early next year.