Gore District Council
Gore District Council staff wrapped carpet around the trunk of the kauri tree to protect it from damage as it moved from its location in Broughton St.
When Crosby Grieve saved a kauri tree from certain destruction in the Gore landfill 47 years ago, he had no idea he was creating a lasting legacy.
This week, the Gore District Council, which eventually took ownership of the kauri section, paid $7,000 to have the kauri tree removed to Dolamore Park so the land could be developed as a stormwater infiltration basin.
The story of how Gore’s one and only kauri tree came to be when Candice and Crosby Grieve moved to the town of Southland in 1975. Crosby was taking trash from their new home to the landfill just as a nursery truck was leaving.
“I found some bushes that had been dumped and thought they looked good, so I grabbed a backload. We’d rather say I saved them,” Candice laughed.
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“When he got home, he found there was a cowrie. It was a bit crooked and unhappy looking, but we planted it in our backyard.”
Kauri generally don’t grow in Southland, but this one thrived, she said.
“We were just amazed it did so well, but it’s been planted with love and talked about occasionally. When we heard a few years later that they had made an alliance on it, we had a little giggle.”
The tree is listed in the Gore District Plan as a “rare specimen in Southland deserving of protection,” and it could not be felled.
The Grieves have since moved, but the cowry became a bit of a headache for those who bought the section, in a prime location near downtown Gore, she said.
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Gore’s infamous kauri tree has moved to Dolamore Park, having occupied a section of Broughton St since the 1970s.
“Apparently there was going to be a nursery there, but the tree caused a bit of a headache, and a builder wanted to develop it, but he had the same problem.”
When the council decided to move the tree, 3 Waters project engineer Aaron Green said the council had sought specialist advice on the best option for the cowrie.
“We wanted to know if we could save the cowry, given the threat the species faces from the cowry extinction in the North Island,” he said.
Park manager Keith McRobie said the trickiest part of the operation was getting the tree down gently on the flat deck without damaging it.
Tree removal began with a backhoe digging a circle outside the drip line — the area below the outer perimeter of the branches.
RYAN ANDERSON/STUFF
The world’s first team of kauri dieback sniffer dogs has honed their skills.
Two excavators and a hi-ab were then deployed to scoop up the cowrie and place it on the transporter.
“We wrapped carpet around part of the trunk to protect the tree’s soft bark.”
The tree has been moved to Dolamore Park in the Hokonui Hills, which has 95 hectares (234 acres) of native podocarp forest and more than 500 rhododendrons.
“We moved it to a more sheltered spot among native plants so it can bloom,” says McRobie.
The fact that the kauri survived Gore’s winter temperatures was evidence of the species’ hardiness outside its natural range, he said.
And the Grieves are overjoyed that the tree has found a new home.
“When the family comes to visit, we have a picnic under our tree,” Candice said.