Frustration Grows Over Felled Native Trees

Wednesday, 23 July 2025, 1:30 pm
Article: Diane McCarthy - Local Democracy Reporter

A Bay of Plenty property owner is beginning to despair as weeds take over an area once home to native tress and shrubs.

Resident Brent Sheather complained to Whakatāne District Council about the destruction to plants and trees on council reserve land almost a year ago, but says very little has been done.

His property shares a boundary with reserve land at the top of Ōhope’s West End escarpment, near Whakatāne, which the council describes as significant biodiversity area.

Mr Sheather spends much of his free time removing invasive plant species from the area, but says parts of the bush have been destroyed near neighbouring properties

Last year, he reported to the council the removal and poisoning of five finger, kawakawa and other small trees and shrubs by the reserve boundary.

The felling of a tall mahoe tree prompted him to approach the media, with Local Democracy Reporting covering the issue in September 2024.

[www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/528586/toppled-trees-vex-resident-of-beachside-bay-of-plenty-community]

Council staff visited the site at the time and told Mr Sheather they would do something about it, but he says little appears to have been done.

“Apart from some limited planting of natives, the biggest change has been that the cleared area has been repopulated by invasive weeds including jasmine, cherry trees, ginger and woolly nightshade, to name just a few,” he said.

Chickens were also seen on the public reserve land, he said.

Council resource consents manager Mike Avery said staff were creating a restoration plan for the area.

The council was also working with the landowners by the boundary to ensure an appropriate resolution was reached, Mr Avery said.

“Professional assessments were commissioned to evaluate the extent and impact of the activities undertaken.

"Based on the findings of those assessments, it was determined that putting a restoration plan in place for the area was found to be appropriate,” he said.

“The council remains committed to protecting areas of significant biodiversity and will continue to engage constructively to restore and safeguard these spaces.”

But Mr Sheather said this was not enough.

“The lack of action by council means that non-native species have established themselves in the area formerly occupied by native trees.

“Whilst the comments from Mike Avery sound encouraging, the reality on the ground is that very little, if anything, has changed in almost one year since the council was notified of the destruction that had occurred in this area.

“There has been lots of 'planning' but no execution."

He pointed out the council’s vision on its website: “We will be successful guardians of our natural environment and … as a district council we will achieve this through outstanding service delivery”.

Mr Sheather said the council has been anything but ‘a successful guardian' of the natural environment’.

"There has been absolutely no service delivery, let alone ‘outstanding service delivery’," he said.

While critical of the lack of action, he was full of praise for the council’s frontline staff.

“I have been fortunate to deal with a number of frontline council staff, and they impressed as being dedicated to their jobs and interested in doing the right thing for the environment.

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