Plants Canvassing Place - Penny Cliffin





PLANTS CANVASSING PLACE
WORDS & IMAGES Penny Cliffin


Prior to the formation of the Auckland Super City in 2010, there were six separate city councils – Waitakere, Manukau, North Shore, Auckland City, Franklin and Rodney. This paper will canvas the planting policy documents of four of those cities, in which particular plant character is identified, and consider how that character is described and can be understood, and how it is now being considered in the new Auckland Council environment.


Waitakere City developed an Eco-City vision (1998), with a focus on planting and restoring native vegetation to strengthen and reinforce the significant tract of native ecology of the Waitakere ranges. Council commissioned comprehensive research by Lucas and Associates into the ecosystems of the area and also a planting guide (1997) to enable the community to select and plant appropriate natives in their gardens and public landscapes. Local nurseries developed eco-sourcing policies to contribute further to this vision. The West Coast moody character (as showcased in movie settings such as ‘The Piano’) was used in promotional material, with dark native forest and manuka scrubland shown below. Manuka (Leptospernum scoparium) becomes shaped by the extreme exposure to West Coast winds, conveying something of a bleakness and dark moodiness in a physical form.

Manukau City planting policy (1992) elected to characterise its Pacific demograph by including palms and sub-tropical looking vegetation in its public planting policies. Examples of this policy include the avenues of washingtonia palms (Washingtonia robusta) and queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffiana) lining major roads in Botany Downs and also the strong pyramidal form of mature, transplanted Norfolk Island pines (Araucaria heterophylla) providing a dramatic centre piece for traffic roundabouts on the route from the city centre to the Auckland airport.


North Shore City also picked up on the sub-tropical look with the use of palms in public plantings, but with less emphasis on the Pacific. The warm sheltered east coast environment of the Shore, which was a holiday bach area for Auckland before the Harbour Bridge was built. The main street plantings of Takapuna are queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffiana), and broad leaved giant bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicolai) commonly feature in traffic islands. There is also the remnant coastal fringes of pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) shown in the photograph taken at Takapuna beach below, which provide a red fringe to the Hauraki Gulf coast at Christmas. The pohutukawa flower is the symbol adopted by Auckland Council after amalgamation.

Auckland City Tree Policy (2000) identifies that the central city illustrates the colonial past of the city most strongly, as the original centre of Pakeha settlement. The oldest public street and park trees in Auckland showcase deciduous European trees such as linden (Tilia europea), English oaks (Quercus robur) and the London planes (Platanus x acerifolia), which make remarkable leafy tunnels in city streets such as Franklin Rd in Ponsonby. There is a diverse range of exotic species in the collections of trees found in central city parks such as Albert Park and Western Park (shown in winter in the photograph below).



In this description of the way character of a particular place has been reflected in the Auckland planting policies canvassed, it is clear that vegetation can provide different placemaking attributes. The visual characteristics of the trees selected, such as their form/shape, colour and textural qualities have been selected to provide cues to important cultural and environmental aspects of the four cities such as the natural ecology and climatic nature of Waitakere City, Pacific demograph of Manukau City, and history of Pakeha settlement of central Auckland.

So how can these observations and past policies of the way plant character has been identified, characterized and showcased in different areas of Auckland be preserved in the Auckland Super City? The amalgamation of the six cities into one council held, and continues to hold the potential for loss of the character identified and documented in policy documents of the various councils canvassed above. Three years on, has that character been enhanced or eroded? 

There are no planting policy documents of the type canvassed above available for Auckland Council. The Auckland Plan documents goals and policies for natural heritage and the environment, without emphasis on other cultural expressions of character except native restoration plantings. In this way it may be seen that goals from Waitakere City council are having a strong influence on wider Auckland planting goals and strategies.

Research into Auckland ecosystems has advanced significantly with DOC and the staff of the ex Auckland Regional Council, now amalgamated into the Auckland Council working together to map natural ecology in the wider city. This will ensure the characterisation previously achieved for Waitakere City, is extended to the rest of the city and ensure documentation of regionally significant plants and characterize particular places by unique species and particular forms and features.

Underlying the Auckland of today we can still catch glimpses of the original podocarp/ broadleaf lowland forest which would have covered the landscape. 

The best examples of intact ecosystems include Smiths Bush, which is dissected by the northern motorway at Northcote Rd which represents lowland forest with a predominance of puriri; Withiel Drive in Epsom has a unique rock forest remnant, Northcote subdivisions retained kauri forest in the gullies; the Waitakere ranges provide a large tract of bush; small patches of which represent mature uplands forest and the mangrove fringes around sedimented estuaries. More recent layers of planting history can be identified in features such as shelter belts, street trees, parks and memorial plantings, gardens and storm water management plantings.

Tree protection legislation has been eroded in the last few years. The four previous Auckland Councils had interpreted the RMA clauses on protection of vegetation by having general tree protection rules in their District Plans to require an application process for the removal of trees above certain size categories. Recent amendments to the RMA and court rulings have dictated the removal of these general tree protection regulations from District Plans.
This means trees are now able to be removed without any consent process. Scheduled Notable trees are the only exception to this. However felling of notable trees since the removal of general tree protection rules, have been noted by Auckland Council’s Waitemata Local Board (Agenda - 10 Sept 2013) and a proposal for labeling notable trees is before Council at present in order to protect these premier trees of the Auckland tree stock, with the aim of demonstrating the high protection status designated to these trees. 

Unitec and the Auckland Council are also working on a proposal for an Auckland Urban Forest Tree Map. Unitec Department of Landscape Architecture has undertaken a pilot tree documentation project for the campus, with students documenting tree data, which has been developed into a publically accessible website. A broader pilot is now being investigated for the Waitemata Local Board area. This will be a GIS based, open sourced web based system which will generate sustainability data from the trees documented as well as enabling Council to analyse, monitor and plan the character and function of the Urban Forest of Auckland. These activities will enable the combined Auckland Council to ensure the continuation of appropriate policy to acknowledge and enhance the placemaking function of plants in the different parts of Auckland.

Plants provide a palette, which creates a sense of place in Auckland. They demonstrate both environmental and cultural character. Environmental character is evident in its unique ecosystems, species and climate. Cultural character is shown through public planting choices, which can reflect demographic identity and aspirations and also in the design artifacts of private gardens.



References:

Auckland City Council, (2000). City Tree Policy. Auckland City, Auckland.

Lucas and Associates, (1997). Native to the West: A guide for planting and restoring the nature of Waitakere City. Waitakere City Council, Auckland.

Manukau City Council, (1992). Planting Policies: Manukau City Council, Manukau City Council, Auckland.

North Shore City Council, (1994). North Shore City Proposed District Plan. North Shore City Council.

Waitakere City Council, (1998). Waitakere City Proposed District Plan. Waitakere City Council, Auckland.
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