Landscape design adviser Linda Joll, of Wānaka, contacted the Otago Daily Times earlier this month when she became aware of the damage done to the kānuka grove in the Pembroke Heights development in Northlake.
A significant number of the native trees had been cut down and the earth dug up to facilitate the creation of mountain-bike trails, Ms Joll said.
She was ‘‘devastated’’ by the damage done to an area that had been carefully crafted to offer a connection to the landscape’s past.
‘‘This was a special zoned-off piece of land, with earthworks, pest and animal control and all the things that go into creating a successful place environment.
‘‘It’s been protected by the contractor for the last five years, until we’ve given it back to the community, and this is how we treat it.’’
‘‘This is the remnants of what this place was before the development of Northlake, and with an understanding of landscape and landscape architecture, I know that you’ve got to go back to what things were before you can move forward and create a new place.’’
It was difficult to assess the extent of the damage, but Ms Joll estimated at least 100 trees had been cut down and many had been used to build jumps.
What should be a thick canopy was now punctuated by significant gaps left by felled trees, she said.
For Ms Joll, the damage was representative of a general sense of entitlement to the land, and a disregard for other uses of these spaces by cyclists.
‘‘These amenity landscapes are for everybody, they’re not just for cyclists.
‘‘The reason I work with the landscape is to heal it again by replanting and creating spaces for everybody.
‘‘People with babies, toddlers, and older people should feel that this is their place and sense of that sanctuary, which is why this place was preserved like this.
‘‘There’s other places you can go and cycle, loads of them. You don’t have to pick on 50-year-old trees and cut them down.’’
Ms Joll said she believed the damage had been done by children, but with the tools required to do such significant work, she said she felt there was tacit endorsement by parents.
‘‘I understand creative energy in children, but when I was at school you would have a school garden and you would be educated around what plants needed and caring for something.
‘‘Since then we’ve lost all that, and it’s all about being active.
‘‘I don’t have any issue with that but we’ve lost regard — and developed a sense of entitlement — toward the environment that I don’t understand now.’’
Ms Joll said she was not ‘‘suggesting for one moment’’ that this was the work of Bike Wānaka — the charitable organisation that builds and maintains Wānaka’s track network and bike parks — but questioned whether the club ‘‘could assist more in the education of their members through their newsletters to highlight the fact that this is absolutely unacceptable’’.
On seeing the photos of the damage to the kānuka grove, Bike Wānaka president Ewan Mackie said members ‘‘will be gutted to hear about this sort of destruction of our precious indigenous vegetation’’.
‘‘This sort of random bike-trail building is certainly not the work of the club, nor our members, and is in no way endorsed.
‘‘We actively discourage this sort of behaviour, and have educated through our network that unsanctioned digging is not OK.
‘‘We have a committee member dedicated to youth engagement, working with local schools seeking to educate and involve our tamariki in this sort of thing.’’
‘‘I would emphasise that this type of behaviour is not representative of the bike community in Wānaka.’’
