A protester stayed in a kauri tree in West Auckland for 4 days. He was part of a group of people who wanted to save this tree and a rimu tree.
A couple, who are architects, bought the land and want to build two houses on the land. They planned to remove some of the trees to make space for the houses. However, both the kauri and the rimu are native trees and very old, maybe 200 years or older. Many native trees take a long time to grow. Both kauri and rimu trees are now protected in forests because so many were cut down in the past and it takes so long to replace these trees.
The couple, who plan to build, had permission from the Auckland Council. Now the Council thinks it might need to think about protected trees when people want to build. The couple have agreed not to cut down the trees in the meantime but they would like the Council to buy the land from them.
The protester was charged by the police with trespassing on private land. He will appear in court next month.
Vocabulary
• kauri – (Maori name) – mostly in Northland forests. Grows to about 50m high and more than 5m in diameter. It is a hard wood, used in the past for ship building and houses.
• rimu – (Maori name) – also a hard wood. It grows throughout New Zealand but especially on the West Coast of the South Island. It is used only for furniture these days.
• architects – design houses and other buildings
• trespass – entering private land without permission from the owner