Kauri dieback: More tracks in Waitākere Ranges to reopen
Two tracks in an Auckland regional park have reopened three years after a rahui was placed on the forest to thwart the spread of kauri dieback.
On Sunday the Omanawanui and Puriri Ridge tracks in the Waitakere Ranges opened to the public again.
Forested areas in West Auckland’s Waitākere Ranges and Hunua Ranges were closed off in 2018 to protect the trees from kauri dieback disease and prevent further spread.
This meant pedestrians could not access more than 100 tracks in Waitākere and more than 10 high-risk tracks in Hunua.
It is a “significant milestone” in the reopening of the Te Ara Tahura/Hillary Trail, Auckland Council said.
It will pave the way for people to hike from Karamatura Valley in Huia through to Anawhata, near Piha.
Auckland mayor Phil Goff said he was pleased to see the tracks reopen.
“Aucklanders and visitors love the Waitākere Ranges and West Auckland walking tracks,” Goff said.
“The tracks were closed to protect our iconic native kauri trees from dieback disease.”
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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