For generations, Aucklanders have escaped to the cool shade of towering kauri forests, following winding tracks through some of the region’s most treasured ngahere.
Today, many of those pathways are once again open to visitors, marking a significant milestone in a seven-year programme designed to protect Auckland’s iconic kauri trees from the devastating threat of kauri dieback disease.
With major infrastructure works now complete, Auckland Council has upgraded 173 kilometres of tracks, reopened 109 tracks across regional and local parks, and installed a network of biosecurity facilities to help slow the spread of the disease while restoring access to nature.
The achievement is the result of a careful balancing act: protecting some of New Zealand’s most precious trees while ensuring future generations can continue to experience them.
Protecting a living taonga
Kauri dieback, caused by a microscopic pathogen carried in soil, has become one of the greatest threats facing New Zealand’s kauri forests.
There is currently no cure, and infected trees can die.
Because even tiny amounts of contaminated soil can spread the disease, tracks and visitor access became a critical part of Auckland’s response. In 2017, as concerns intensified in Te Wao Nui a Tiriwa, Te Kawerau ā Maki placed a rāhui over the Waitākere Ranges to help protect the forest.
Auckland Council supported the rāhui by closing high-risk tracks and introducing extensive forest protection measures. While those closures were difficult for many Aucklanders, they created the opportunity for a long-term solution.
Rebuilding access, one track at a time
Since then, crews have worked across parks and reserves to redesign and upgrade tracks, improve drainage, install boardwalks and stairways, and create safer routes that keep visitors away from vulnerable kauri root systems. The programme has also delivered 150 biosecurity facilities, including hygiene stations in parks and at wharves, along with vehicle wash stations that help reduce the risk of contaminated soil being transported between sites.
The Chair of Auckland Council’s Community Committee, Councillor Julie Fairey, says the work demonstrates what can be achieved through collective action.
“Kauri are an irreplaceable part of Auckland’s identity, and we had a responsibility to act when the science showed their survival was at risk,” says Fairey.
“The investment Aucklanders have made through the Natural Environment Targeted Rate has helped protect these precious forests while carefully reopening tracks, so people can enjoy them and the ngahere can be safeguarded for future generations.”
By the numbers
What the programme delivered over seven years
173km
Tracks upgraded
137km in regional parks
36km in local parks
50
Biosecurity facilities
Hygiene stations in parks
Hygiene stations at wharves
Vehicle wash stations
109
Tracks reopened
66 in regional parks
43 in local parks
The work was funded through Auckland Council’s Natural Environment Targeted Rate, which invested $49.4 million over seven years to help protect kauri forests and support safe public access to parks and reserves.
Partnership in action
A defining feature of the programme has been the partnership between Auckland Council and Te Kawerau ā Maki, the mana whenua and kaitiaki of Te Wao Nui a Tiriwa.
An agreement established in 2018 guided the planning and prioritisation of upgrades, helping ensure access decisions were balanced with the long-term protection of the forest.
For Te Kawerau ā Maki, the work reflects an ongoing responsibility to care for an ancestral landscape.
“The stakes could not be higher,” says Edward Ashby, Chief Executive of Te Kawerau Iwi Tiaki Trust.
“If we get this wrong, trees that have stood for more than 1,000 years could die, putting the wider forest at risk.”
Ashby says the partnership has enabled a gradual reopening of tracks while maintaining a strong focus on forest health.
“We’re proud of what we’ve achieved with Auckland Council. A careful, adaptive approach has enabled 81 kilometres of tracks to reopen in the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park.
“We’re grateful to the many Aucklanders who have supported this work and are enjoying the reopened tracks.”
Attention is now turning to future opportunities, including progressing Te Ara Tuhura / Hillary Trail as a multi-day walking experience and exploring additional access options in lower-risk areas of the Waitākere Ranges.
A huge undertaking
Auckland Council General Manager Environmental Services Samantha Hill says the scale of the programme should not be underestimated.
“This has been a monumental programme involving kilometres of tracks, national and regional controls, carefully designed solutions, biosecurity infrastructure, and years of engagement and collaboration with communities, contractors and mana whenua,” she says.
“This track programme has been a key part of protecting and restoring forest health and our collective commitment to care for these taonga forests.”
Looking ahead
While the major construction programme has now wrapped up, the work of protecting kauri continues.
Track maintenance, monitoring, research and public education remain essential tools in the fight against kauri dieback. Visitors can continue to play their part by cleaning footwear at hygiene stations and staying on designated tracks.
After seven years of closures, upgrades and careful planning, the outcome is visible not only in reopened tracks, but in the opportunity to reconnect with Auckland’s forests in ways that help ensure these remarkable trees continue standing for centuries to come.