Last updated on 28 August 2020.

Summary

Avondale residents, neighbours and supporters had been fighting to save native trees from being cut down at 52 – 58 Canal Road since 8 July 2020.
They had been blocking contractors from entering the site, sitting in trees and since 26 August, sitting in a suspended platform.
The private property is owned by David and Paul Raymond, who told protesters removing the trees are a condition of sale to a developer.
The site had a unique collection of urban native trees, including two rare black maire and a kawaka, as well as other natives like totara and puriri.
Twenty three of the original 46 trees were cut down by Arborist Contractor Treeworx in July 2020
Following recent changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) owners may legally remove native trees on private property without consent.
The Tree Council estimated more than a third of Auckland’s trees had been removed since general tree protection was removed from the RMA in 2012.
Only one tree on site, a large Pohutukawa, was protected.
The protest began when local William Lee stood in front of a wood chipper and refused to move shortly after the first trees were destroyed on 8 July.
Worksafe, New Zealand’s health and safety regulator, banned work on site for a month after a felled tree almost hit a protester and two police on 21 July.
Seven people have been arrested during the protests, all charged with Willful Trespass.
In 2018, the Auckland Council found more than 12,879 trees, 61.23 hectares of canopy or 61 rugby fields, were cut down in the old Waitematā board area in the decade to February 2016, which University of Auckland experts blame on changes to the Resource Management Act.

Canal Road timeline

31 March 2021 – Ten protesters will go to court on charges of Willful Tresspass and Disorderly Conduct.
9 March 2021 – Unknown contractors fel
10 September 2020 – Five protesters will go to court on charges of Willful Trespass.
31 August 2020 – Mark Lockart will go to court on charges of Willful Trespass.
26 August 2020
- Protesters install the first suspended platform in a puriri tree. The platform makes tree sitters harder to move and trees more difficult to cut down.
- Niamh O’Flynn is given a second charge of Willful Trespass.
25 August 2020
- Worksafe lifts a work prohibition on the site, allowing work to continue.
- Fencing contractors installed a new, higher three metre fences around the property.
- Police arrest two activists, one occupying a tree and another on the footpath for breaching trespass, but are unable to arrest a third activist high in a tree.
- [Mark Lockhart] is charged with Willful Trespass and given bail conditions which include staying 500 metres from the protest.
- Niamh O’Flynn, a young mother, is held in remand prison overnight for allegedly breaching bail conditions to stay 10 metres from the protest.
23 July 2020 – Worksafe stops work on the site due to safety concerns from the incident on 21 July 2020.
21 July 2020
- A felled tree narrowly misses protester Steve Able and two Police officers. [Youtube]
- Five protesters occupying trees are arrested, charged with Trespass and released with bail conditions that stop them going closer than 10 metres to the protest.
8 July 2020 – Local William Lee stands in front of a wood chipper and halts felling, effectively starting the community protest.

General Tree Protection

From 5 September 2015 the only trees with legal protection are protected by council or that are in a Significant Ecological Area (SEA). Native and non-native trees without this protection can be pruned or felled without resource consent from the council.

Timeline

31 Oct 2018 – In 2018, the Auckland Council found more than 12,879 trees, 61.23 hectares of canopy or 61 rugby fields, were cut down in the old Waitematā board area in the decade to February 2016, which University of Auckland experts blame on changes to the Resource Management Act.
13 Oct 2017 – the Tree Council estimated a third of Auckland’s trees had been removed in the past five years, and the loss is accelerating, since general tree protection was removed in 2012.

4 September 2015 – Amendments to the Resource Management Act (RMA) remove blanket tree protection in urban areas.
22 Jan 2013 – Auckland Council agrees to remove blanket tree protection rules in Rodney, North Shore and the old Auckland City Council area except the CBD. The Council agreed to this in a memorandum with the Property Council on the basis the Property Council dropped an Environment Court legal challenge.
11 December 2012 – The National Government make further amendments to general tree protection in the RMA (Ref)
1 January 2012 – The National Government removal of general tree protection comes into force, from a 2009 Resource Management Act (RMA) amendment. This removes general protection for all but scheduled trees. (Ref)
2011 – Waitakere City Council, North Shore City Council and Auckland Council used an Environment Court decision to allow the old general protection rules to remain. (Ref)
2009 – The National Government creates a Resource Management Act amendment to remove general tree protection, to come in force on 1 January 2012. (Ref)

The trees

A list of the felled and saved trees at Canal Road can be found here.