Ecology Action on a Fringe-Urban Hillside

Updated 29 November 2008

History

FRIENDS

            A community group of volunteers, Friends of Three Streams and Kauri Grove, was
             incorporated in 2002 and is being reactivated.. 

THE GODS SEND THREAD FOR A WEB BEGUN

40 Years to blossom

This history of Three Streams and Kauri Grove before and since North Shore City Council became responsible for the properties, is recorded to help you determine what is to be the role of the community in their future.

This reserve is a rare combination of planned features and natural regeneration alongside a major commercial centre, university and schools. Albany’s new community must ensure that a unique environmental opportunity is not lost. 

History of Three Streams and Kauri Grove

  In 1969 10 acres now known as Three Streams,on the main highway less than 1km North of Albany village shops, was a failing poultry farm, part of a neglected bush block, mainly old pine trees on an area previously grazed after its original kauris had gone. There were no tracks. The three streams flow down from Albany hill, joining to run through a culvert under the highway, past the pub into Oteha Stream and under the highway bridge into Lucas Creek and the Upper Waitemata Harbour.  

It was the year before I ‘retired’, after ten years, as Director of Motat in 1970, little realizing how its development would dominate the rest of my life. The large sheds just below the road boundary housed vintage cars and other old machinery from local farms, vaguely intended to become a local museum collection.  These sheds have now been removed by the Council.

In 1971 my wife died, leaving me with three young children and two stepchildren whose grandparents took them to South Island. We moved with from our large house at Remuera to the beachside at Rothesay Bay, close to Three Streams,  where I could do some work  daily. Initially this was mainly  landscaping, removing unwanted pines, and forming tracks for access.  

After bypass surgery in 1978, with the children away or at boarding schools, I disposed of the vintage cars –the last two, a 1936 Chev.fire engine and a 1924 Republic truck, both with local history, were donated to the North Shore Vintage Car Club- and built a modest house on the highest ridge at Three Streams. Fourteen pine trees from what became house lawn provided timber, sawn by Gatmans of Silverdale, seasoned here, treated and dressed by Cashmores at Silverdale.  No, it doesn’t leak. Being resident on the property means much more gardening   

Reserve Staus  

Meanwhile the Commission for Environment was sufficiently impressed by the development achieved and planned that the Minister of Lands gazetted the property as a Private Scenic Reserve in 1974.  It was then vested in a Conservation Trust.

Natives and Exotics  

While most of my replanting has consisted of native tree species, especially kauri, I believed that there was merit in retaining some of the established pines and indeed a wider variety of Northern Hemisphere and other exotic species, compatible with the natives, enhancing the landscape and birdlife.  Hence an  Arboretum, of which there was –and is-no other local example.  

The prevailing "PC" revegetation philosophy is  to restore lost indigenous purity, a worthy, widely supported objective. But complete restoration of an ecology evolved through thousands, millions of years is hardly possible after clearfelling and our country's flora is inescapably changed with importations  by birds, winds and climate change, as well as humans. On this property, repeatedly ravished and closer to urban development, diversified revegetation demonstrates attractive compatibility.  Some of my associates in the Tree Council and Forest and Bird did not agree with me at the time.

  600 Kauris

In 1984, the future was more strongly defined by a massive planting of nearly 600 seedling kauris from the Sweetwater Nursery at Kaitia, closed by the restructuring of the Forest Service.  This made it perhaps the largest plantation of young kauri in any city area, and now (2008) warrants careful study –and studied care! It is certainly a valuable addition to the many mature remnants of kauri forest around North Shore City.

NZ’s magnificent, long lived Kauri belongs to the very ancient Araucaria family of conifers, of which there are 21 species in the South Pacific including the Norfolk pine. The sole New Zealand species is Agathis australis.   There is a newly emerging threat of  Phytophtera  (2008).

Proposals for both ad hoc study of the Three Streams resource, and a much wider academically based study of New Zealand’s kauri asset, are in preparation. Climate Change is now a factor. Perhaps a Project Kauri Trust..  

   QE11 National Trust

  In 1990 Three Streams was transferred to the QE11 National Trust, which accepted the Arboretum concept and development programme  through several changes of General Manager and Chairman. The Trust’s administration, centred in Wellington, has a regional representative in Auckland, the first involved being resident in Devonport. He was a frequent visitor to Three Streams, and a Property Manager from Wellington came once a year.  

 The policy of the Trust moved to a primary focus on promoting covenants with private landowners, the basis of it's funding, reducing the actual ownership of property. A property at Howick was sold, two well known Taranaki gardens transferred to the Regional Council, and towards the middle of 2004 the Trust negotiated the transfer of Three Streams to North Shore City Council; even Aroha Island, a kiwi sanctuary near Keri Keri, has since been handed over to Northland Council and a community group.

  And Kauri Grove  

In the 1990s some 25 adjoining acres upstream became a Council reserve, including a fine stand of mature kauri, preserved by the owners, who had long before approved of my planting the cleared area closest to Three Streams.  This was now called Kauri Grove. In 2000 local supporters formed Friends of Three Streams and Kauri Grove Inc. as a non-profit society.  Another 1-2 acre area has been added on the Southern boundary, with access to a major development so that Three Streams now links nearly 40 protected acres.   The on-site public function formalising the transfer of title to Three Streams took place in April 2005, with appropriate political jubilation. The Minister of Conservation participated.  

  Poor Consultation with friends  

Friends of Three Streams/Kauri Grove Inc. were not consulted during the negotiating process. Some established practices were regarded as inconsistent with Council rules; volunteers,  responded by just staying away. Their offices and meeting room, recently renovated –the ladies had even made new curtains-  were deemed unsuitable for public use and  demolished.  

The Annual meeting in 2005 was not permitted l to be held on the premises, few attended, and the group diminished.  Small meetings have since been held at my house. Positive  supporting action by Council staff is now needed to restore membership and enthusiasm to their previous levels, with the greatly increased new population of Albany.

Council Management  

Council assumed responsibility for management on November 1 2004.  Four years have passed to complete the consequential paperwork – a Botanical Survey, Management Plan and Development Plan, all requiring consultants, public notification and adoption before Annual Plan funding for development is approved.  The process is perhaps unavoidable. The paperwork, however necessary for long-term guidance, has little relevance to what actually happens on the ground in the near future, which varies with staff, priorities, funding and weather, in addition to the influence of local population changes.  

While regular maintenance takes precedence over capital improvements, the infrastructure strongly affects public usage. Some tracks on level ground are easily maintained, but those on hillsides, often more interesting, require steps and platforms and those along streambanks sometimes need boardwalks. Even the unexpected appearance of a rare plant one Spring, not safely relocated, can lead to the diversion of a track for its protection.  

Meanwhile the Parks Department relies on minimal maintenance by contractors, which does not include many popular tracks and with inadequate facilities. Extolling the value of volunteers does not offset  decisions from behind desks, conveyed  by officers, who  change every year or two and have little knowledge of a property’s history.  

A New Council  

Fortunately, in 2008, with a new Mayor and Council, the prospects have improved. For the first time, a meeting has taken place at my home with the (new) Parks Chairman (new) Parks Manager, Parks officers (one has actually been as helpful as possible since he arrived eighteen months ago) and the Acting Chairman of the Friends society (I am only the Patron) with every indication of a good understanding. There is also a new arborist, who we hope will stay longer than his predecessors.  

We  had a remarkably successful Planting Day, in spite of the weather, on June 29.and we hope that funding for the Development Plan and a helpful Albany Community Board will ensure more progress and revive the Friends with a programme in which they can participate with enthusiasm and achievement.  

-John Hogan.                            Updated November 2008