Axes and chainsaws have put an end to residents' hopes that a patch of beloved native trees at a central Auckland housing complex could be saved.
Freemans Park resident Chris McBride watched in horror as one of the tī kouka trees he had looked after for the past 25 years was toppled and fed into a mulcher.
"There goes the first one... Holy f***. That first tī kouka has just gone down... That hits me in the heart," he said, wincing at the grinding of metal teeth on wood.
McBride and his neighbour, Graeme McRae, had tended to the thick bush of tī kouka, hibiscus, and nikau trees for decades, but their body corporate this year decided to replace the trees with a "coherent, low-maintenance scheme", a Freemans Park spokesperson told RNZ last week.
Chris McBride studies one of the trees earlier this month. Photo: Marika Khabazi / RNZ
A number of residents were outraged.
"It's outrageous, I'm really upset. Native trees being cut down, I'm really sad, a lot of people are really sad," said Lynne, one of the 201 residents living at the complex.
"Those people that planted them have lived here all that time, they have cared for them. Who has complained about the trees being there? It's beyond me. We don't feel like we've been consulted.
"Our body corporate fees have doubled just recently and they're cutting down trees... I'm really angry to be honest."
A mulcher at the site where some trees at an Auckland housing complex were removed. Photo: Marika Khabazi
Another resident, Diane, felt the same way.
"If you look over there, it's bare," she pointed to a line of cherry trees recently planted across the driveway, a preview of what would soon replace the bush.
"You turn around and it's beautiful, lovely huge umbrellas. It's part of our living space. People can't believe what's happening.
"My heart's broken. I just don't know why anyone else would want to cut them down," she said.
A sign posted by one of the residents at the housing complex in objection to the tree felling. Photo: Marika Khabazi
One resident overlooking the scene displayed a hand made sign in their window: "This is f***ed," it declared.
McBride has spent the last two weeks anticipating the arborists' arrival, unsure of when exactly his beloved trees would be removed.
"It's been pretty horrendous actually, I've been getting up early in the morning anticipating them coming in," he said.
"It's really horrendous seeing a big truck towing a mulcher, it's horrendous hearing the noise. Now, right now, I'm watching as the first big trees are starting to come out."
Felled trees that stood outside an Auckland housing complex. Photo: Marika Khabazi
McBride described the bush as a "micro urban forest".
"The tī kouka is just starting to flower, the number of native birds that would have come into those trees was going to be tremendous. The bird life, the sound of the birds, the whole ecosystem there has just been destroyed," he said.
A spokesperson for the body corporate told RNZ the decision to remove the trees had come after two community meetings and "extensive correspondence", but McBride claimed the committee had skipped out on a planned meeting.
Cabbage trees / tī kōuka were removed from the housing complex. Photo: Marika Khabazi
"The body corp isn't listening. It has been missing in action over this. They were supposed to have a discussion with us and we would talk through what the issues are and see whether or not we can save a part of it," he said.
"Potentially there would have been some minor changes, some clearing up or cleaning up... But no, they refused to have the conversation with us."
The body corporate has declined to expand on its earlier comments.
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