Hopes for a tree planting on the barren summit of One Tree Hill have been dashed again - for another six months at least.
A settlement between tribal authority Ngati Whatua Orakei and the Crown last month revived hopes of a planting. In September, a deed of settlement was also signed with the Tamaki Collective, a group of 13 iwi and hapu with shared interests in Auckland.
However, Ngati Whatua Orakei trustee Ngarimu Blair said tribes want to wait until the collective settlement passed into law. "We've learned the hard way over generations to get agreements in the bag first."
No decision had been made over what kind of tree should be planted.
A former Auckland mayor - who ordered the landmark pine tree removed 12 years ago - wants pohutakawa grown from seedlings found in the pine trunk to become its symbolic replacement. Now an Auckland councillor, Christine Fletcher said: "The seeds had propagated in the tree, it was like nature's way of stating what should be following that pine."
