The sad news is that the 200 old pines have gone for good.
Many local residents will miss them daily - the sun skewering through the foliage in the late afternoon was a joy to see on a sunny afternoon.
The other bad news is that many of those pines were not rotten. They did not all need to come down. However, there is some good news.
Martin Leach, and I, were taken through the forest by Lucy Kitching, Corporate Communication Specialist, and Regional Arborist and Eco Manager, David Stejskal for an inspection. I was pleased to see huge swathes of rejuvenating natives still in place. They will grow from a current 10 to 12 feet, to mature trees more quickly than some people predict, if conditions in the forest are optimum.
There is, however, a huge bare patch where the road was put through for equipment to drag logs out, and chip most of them. Much of the chip (95% David reckoned) has been removed but a lot of chip still sits there on, above, and below the road where new planting has already begun.
I asked Lucy Kitching, to get answers to some questions that exercised my mind. Answers were supplied by courtesy of Taryn Crewe, GM Community Facilities.
A planting plan was sent to me. Pasadena Intermediate students were invited to begin the planting. I saw the fruit of their efforts - 140 natives planted just above the road. They included a number of cabbage trees (Te Kouka).
I was concerned to see so many cabbage trees in one clump, in what will be the middle of the rejuvenating forest.
The list of natives to be planted is very varied and comprehensive and includes well-known natives like manuka, kanuka and mahoe (2000 plus in all). Others to be widely sprinkled through the forest include karamu (650), houhere (lacebark, 325), with a generous coverage too of karaka, kahikatea, kohekohe, porokaiphiri (pigeonwood), kawakawa, kohuhu, totara, kowhai and puriri.
One of my disappointments is that all those mentioned above are one to two litre size – very small. These littlies will take a long time to grow to maturity. There are, however, 20 specimen trees to be planted - five taraire, five karaka, and 10 kohekohe. These will be 45 litre, much bigger trees.
As I have told readers before, I helped with the restoration planting of Tiritiri Matangi Island, and served on the Tiri committee for a short time. There are planting guidelines that need to be heeded.
It is very important to determine which natives thrive best in the middle of a forest, and which prefer the fringes. Cabbage trees like the bush fringe, so too do kawakawa. Kahikatea are happy with wet feet, so do well on swampy ground.
It is not just a case of jamming any of them anywhere at all. After talking with David Stejskal, I’m sure council arborists will be good advisers on these matters.
My other main concern about new planting is dealing with the depth and coverage of the chips from the chipped pine logs. Where the road was put through must be remediated to satisfy the resource consent, returning the original contours of the forest. Maybe planting should have been held up on the roadway until the 15-20 centimetres of chip is dealt to. Planters are meant to dive down to the earth below the chip when planting.
The council reply to me said this about the chip: “where there are pockets of deeper mulch, these will be shifted to allow for planting. As a result, there may be smaller piles of mulch between the planted natives.”
This could be problematic, and will certainly require mature planters. Fortunately most planting is being done by Wildland.
I had a chance, thanks to Lucy Kitching’s facilitation, to have a further chat with David Stejskal on my concerns about the replanting. David was very approachable, knowledgeable, courteous and professionally helpful. He explained so lucidly what was happening, the benefits of cabbage trees - strong roots on sloping ground giving stability, their attraction for insects (food for birds) and the subsequent spreading of seeds. He also defended the planting with one litre and two litre grade seedlings.
“They will take more easily than bigger seedlings”, David maintained, “and may even outgrow the 20 or so large specimen natives which will be planted up on the ridge.” Much of the remaining chip will be ‘broadcast’ away from where planting is occurring making it easier to plant down to soil, David further assured us.
I came away from those discussions confident that council plans for the replanting, are sound. They know what they are doing.
So, finally I would say that the result of the demolition of the pine trees has been uneven, with some bare spaces, but with large groups of regenerating natives still in place and thriving.
The forest will need regular maintenance after planting, for some years, and we know that noxious weeds will be a constant irritant.
Next month we will address the question of weed and pest control, and discuss the council plan to use glyphosate quite liberally. We hope that can be more strictly controlled, or preferably banned outright, whatever the outcome of the present review by the Environmental Protection Authority. (John Elliott)
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Published 6 August 2021