Auckland Council says it remains committed to fighting kauri dieback in the Waitakere ranges despite voting against closing the park to foot traffic.
Infected areas have almost doubled over the past five years, with contaminated foot traffic being the primary cause.
More than 100 tonnes of gravel is being flown in by helicopter to improve track conditions along six routes, including filling in muddy areas to reduce footwear contamination.
The council has been spending $500,000 per year on fighting the disease, but wants to increase that funding to $10m per year under its 10-year budget.
The local community is concerned that the council is not doing enough to fight the disease, with local iwi Te Kawarau a Maki recently placing a rahui - or ban - on foot traffic in the area to help stop the disease.
There is a proposal to close the Waitakere Ranges, which has seen 20 per cent of its kauri trees infected with the disease.
Waitakere Ward Councillor Penny Hulse says while the council has closed some tracks already, simply banning people from the whole park is difficult.
"The ability to simply close the ranges is a complex , difficult and unenforcable thing to do," she said.
"We've closed 13 tracks and we're working on the closure over the next few days of another 22."
John Edger of the Waitakere Protection Society says the community is not giving up and urged people to respect the rahui.
"We're going to lead on this," he said.
"We are supporting the rahui."
Local Maori and conservationists have declared the Waitakere Ranges closed off in bit to stop spread of Kauri dieback disease.
"We're going to lead and hopefully the council and government will follow."
WHAT IS KAURI DIEBACK?
Kauri dieback is caused by an organism similar to a fungus called an oomycete - or water mold.
The Latin name translates to "egg fungus", but it is technically not a fungus, but its own distinct order of organisims.
Many variations of oomycetes exist and they generally cause symptoms in plants often referred to as blight, root rot or dieback.
The species which affect New Zealand's kauri - agathis australis - is called phytophthora agathidicida.
It spreads through forests by infecting the roots of trees growing close to the surface.
Symptoms of infection includes seeping gum from the tree's trunk, yellowing of leaves, leaf loss and canopy thinning - almost all trees infected eventually die.
Apart from dieback, kauri have been very successful in surviving, having been around since the Jurassic period between 190 and 135 million years ago.
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