Response from Mana Rākau to the statement by Ockham and Marutūāhu Collective on the Ash St macrocarpa and Auckland’s housing and climate crisis.
An urban forest is cut down one single tree at a time.
You intend to cut down a 150-year-old macrocarpa (Monterey Cypress) on Ash Street in our neighbourhood of Avondale. If you succeed this tree will be but the latest in a rampage of urban tree destruction that has seen one-third of Tāmaki’s canopy lost in a single decade.
You need not be part of this pattern of loss.
It seems the specific purpose for this tree’s destruction is to accommodate a swimming pool and avoid shading in some apartments in your Aroha development at a certain time of day.
Trees have inherent value and we must uphold their mana.
With appropriate pruning and proper care and management of this heritage tree, and a minor re-think of the design and engineering of your development, this grand, old Macrocarpa will come to be seen as something that enhances the Aroha project rather than hinders it. This could be done without reducing the number of apartments.
Preserving this tree enhances the development because it respects, carries over, and incorporates the natural and community heritage of the area in which this new development will rise. Heritage which includes the account of Barney Wikitera-Kuki in whose backyard the tree grew.
It enhances it because it manifests and affirms a future for Auckland’s development in which old trees and new housing are not competing forces.
It enhances it because in a climate emergency the macrocarpa stores over 2000kgs of carbon and is actively sequestering carbon. You cannot replace this value by planting 21 younger trees.
It enhances your development because this tree is home to many birds, including tui whose call is universally cherished. These birds also have a right to live and will be homeless if you kill this tree.
Trees like this provide habitat and refuge for a multitude of creatures. Without them, our urban landscape will become increasingly absent of birds, native insects and other fauna.
From the highest storey residents will have a picturesque view into the canopy of a mighty, old tree. We know the presence of trees in our cities inspires awe, peace and wellbeing.
The residents of Aroha will come to love this tree just as past residents of this corner have. They will be stunned that killing it was the original plan.
This tree was planted before anyone alive today was born.
You say the tree is the wrong kind in the wrong place, yet whoever planted the macrocarpa planted it with deliberation precisely where they wanted it to grow. The people who lived in the Whau let that tree grow where it is for 150 years, deemed it a notable and significant tree, and gave it protected status.
Perhaps your swimming pool is in the wrong place because it’s where there is already a 150-year-old scheduled tree growing.
The tree is in good health despite Council’s lack of care. With maintenance and care, 50 years from now the Aroha development could have a 200-year-old tree as its centerpiece. That care and preservation represent true aroha, and that is the Aroha the community is willing to be a part of.
You say that we don’t represent the community. Mana Rākau grew from a sustained resistance within the Avondale community to the cutting down of an old stand of native trees. Many of us are long-time residents of Avondale. Some of us have lived here our whole lives. Right across our city we are losing our old trees. Our occupation for nearly 200 days at the Canal Road native tree stand has mobilised and inspired people from across Tāmaki Makaurau to take action. We are part of a city population who are sick of seeing mature trees disappearing from our landscape without notice. If we are not the community then who is?
Democracy is not something that happens only once every three years on election day. Democracy is an active political system that is healthy when there are layers of participatory process. Democracy is explicitly denied by the exertion of power behind-closed-doors and without the participation or inclusion of the people directly affected.
If you are adamant that the community don’t want this tree saved then why not give time for the public to have their say? When a public servant refused approval for you to cut the tree without a publicly notified consent you threatened the Council with legal action if they did not bend to your will. Council complied. That is not democracy.
Aotearoa’s democracy includes the Bill of Rights which affirms that people have the right to protest. Many things we celebrate and take for granted now only came about because of public protest and peaceful direct action.
We are protesting your killing of this mighty old tree, but we do not do it lightly.
We did not want to spend our Christmas and New Years defending the tree from your cranes and chainsaws. We do not want to be arrested and carry criminal convictions for refusing to move from the tree. But we are prepared to do this if necessary. When a process is unjust, resistance is a public duty.
We want a resolution. We are willing to sit down with you to find one.
We believe there is a way for us to meet on common ground and find a solution that is mutually agreeable to all; one that allows the Aroha development, this tree, and this community to coexist. Stop the chainsaws, remove the crane, and meet with us.
The word aroha has layers of meaning. It does not only mean love, but compassion, sympathy, empathy and benevolence. Aroha is listening to your community, building relationships and acting in good faith. Do not render the name you have chosen for your development a cynical branding that masks the killing of a taonga rākau. Save this tree, and when the homes are complete the community will stand beside you at its blessing ceremony and know its name was purposeful and authentic.
Aroha mai, aroha atu.
Mana Rākau – for the trees.