Authorities say Mt Albert tree felling will go ahead despite protests

November 16, 2019

The stand off is entering its second week.

The Tūpuna Maunga Authority says despite protests, planned felling of hundreds of trees at Auckland's Mount Albert will go ahead.

The Tūpuna Maunga Authority was given guardianship of Mount Albert and 13 other Auckland volcanoes five years ago and now wants to regenerate them with native trees.

It said 345 exotics, including olive and monkey apple trees, would be felled over the next month.

However. a group of Auckland residents occupying Mount Albert say they won't be moved.

The stand-off between protestors and the Māori authority is entering its second week with no resolution in sight.

Mt Albert resident Anna Radford says protestors feel misunderstood.

"What they're trying to do is position us as bunch of racist rabble-rousers who are here illegally but that is so not what we are about," she told 1 NEWS.

But the authority says many of the trees to be felled are classed as pest species or pose a risk to health and safety and its planting thousands of natives over several years instead.

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