19 Mar 2012

Support expected for rahui to protect kauri

7:57 am on 19 March 2012

Auckland Council says a plan to close walking tracks to protect kauri trees is effectively a rahui, or ban.

It has earmarked 27km of walkways in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, in areas where the trees appear to be unaffected by kauri dieback, a fungal disease.

The council's parks, recreation and heritage forum's chairperson is expecting a lot of local support to shut the tracks.

Sandra Coney says there may be some resistance from some of the commercial interests which operate tourism and events in the ranges.

But Ms Coney says it will be possible to accommodate their needs in other parts of the park, which is spread over 16,000 hectares.