“𝐈 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬”— 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

21 May 2025

In a vote taken where I was the only dissenter, the Taupō Reserves and Roading Committee yesterday (Item 5.4, 20 May meeting) approved the removal of three mature silver birch trees from the Tapuaeharuru lakefront cliffs.

I voted 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 this, and here’s why:

While the erosion of the cliff is real, we were 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. If we are to trade away decades-old trees—public assets—we should at least be able to explain how much it would have cost to save them. We weren’t and we can’t, so that to me was insufficient grounds to proceed with the undue urgency I felt we were being pressed into.

Are there any tree huggers in Taupō? I’m not one myself, but suspect that if this were happening in Auckland we’d be hearing about it and loudly. If not, that’s okay. Move along, nothing to see here.

Watch the meeting from 33:46 here

Meeting agenda and minutes here

Facebook here