The Tree Council is appalled that Upper Hutt City Council is poised to destroy an avenue of fourteen mature native black beech trees next week in order to widen a dead end road at Katherine Mansfield Drive.

These trees represent the last intact remnant of the tawai (beech) forests described by German naturalist Ernest Dieffenbach in 1840 who travelled up the Hutt (“Eritonga”) valley when the valley floor was entirely forested. This 1.5 Ha patch of black beech forest near the end of Katherine Mansfield Drive, Upper Hutt was assessed as a Significant Natural Area by Wildlands Consultants on contract to the Upper Hutt City Council.

The Tree Council has written to the Mayor and Councillors in support of the local residents and concerned NGOs, including Royal Forest & Bird Society, who have repeatedly appealed to them not to fell these trees over the last several months.

A more creative solution exists that can safely service the planned new development and save the trees by having a short one-lane section on this straight piece of road.

There are plenty of precedents for one-lane roads, bridges and passing places on Aotearoa’s roading network. Several are on state highways. The most notable is the one in Waipoua Forest on SH12 which protects two large kauri trees on either side of the road.

The Tree Council’s Secretary Dr Mels Barton says “Mature trees provide so many benefits to us and are the only asset which becomes more productive and valuable with age. The Tree Council considers that destruction of these public assets, when a safe and easy alternative exists, is nothing more than vandalism.”

It’s not too late to save these trees. The Tree Council urges concerned members of the public to email the Hutt City Mayor and Councillors and ask them to implement the one-lane solution in order to save these irreplaceable public assets.

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