Please support our legal fight to save hundreds of trees at Otahuhu Mt Richmond.
We are a grassroots community group fighting to stop the felling of nearly 300 exotic trees at our local Maunga.
Otahuhu, Auckland
Our community group is fighting to stop ratepayer-funded Tupuna Maunga Authority from reinstating a resource consent to fell nearly 300 trees at our local Maunga (volcanic cone) just because they're non-native. In 2023, local woman Shirley Waru crowd-funded a judicial review that cancelled the Authority's resource-consent but they are playing hard-ball and are appealing the decision. The Authority wants to rid Auckland's Maunga of all exotic trees so winning the court battle will help set a precedent for other Maunga.
Otahuhu has Auckland's lowest level of tree cover so we need every tree! We are ordinary everyday people who don't have deep pockets, so need your help to fight the appeal, which is being heard in the Court of Appeal in Wellington on 15 April.
In all we are hoping to raise $45000.00 to cover the costs.
Every dollar counts so please donate to help Shirley save these beautiful trees.
Previous page https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/savethetreesatmtrichmondotahuhu
Use of funds
Legal fees to fund a Court of Appeal claim initiated by Tupuna Maunga Authority, to overturn the High Court's decision which quashed the resource consent to fell 278 trees.
Any surplus funds donated will be used for a similar environmental cause.
Other page links
Latest update
Court of Appeal hearing in Wellington last week 15 April 2026 20 April 2026
Good morning all, apologies for taking a few days to share an update of our hearing in the Court of Appeal Wellington last week.
We were extremely lucky with the weather, a perfect sunny day with not a breath of wind visitors to Wellington are often welcomed with.
Anna Radford from Honour the Maunga Mt Albert / Owairaka joined me, their group HTM have been a good supporting friend to Respect Mt Richmond Ōtāhuhu since both our communities have been confronted by the prospect of losing all of our exotic trees in a mass clear fell at our respective local parks and reserves.
The hearing went very well, the panel of 3 judges were well prepared, having read all of the judicial review documents from our hearing in the High Court which set the resource consent aside, and were well versed in the synopsis submissions for the hearing before them.
Our barrister did a grand job, we are very lucky to have him representing us.
We now wait quietly for their decision, it could take some time.
We thank everyone who has supported us enabling us to continue our court battle. We couldn’t have got this far without you!
Please continue to share our Givealittle link, as we still have a way to go before we reach our goal, enabling us to pay our legal costs in full.
This case is very important to other communities in Auckland such as Mount Eden, Three Kings, and Mount Roskill, who have many exotic trees that are planned to be felled in the future.
Ngaa mihinui ki a koutou, Naa Shirley Waru
Latest donations
Thank you so much John and Liz for your very generous donation and continued support to our community. We appreciate your support and generosity very much! Ngaa mihinui ki a korua.
Thank you Pip for your generosity and support, we couldn’t have got this far without people like you. Ngaa mihi, Naa Shirley Waru.
Thank you for your generosity, it is a jewel we are very grateful to have. The trees and bird life they bring is an absolute treasure to all people of Auckland as people from other communities often visit the many volcanic cones which serve as our parks and reserves available to all who wish to visit and enjoy them.
Thank you Helen for your support and generosity to our community.
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