$2000 reward to nab tree poisoner

Manukau City is offering a $2000 reward to catch a mysterious tree poisoner at Bucklands Beach.

Three pohutukawa and three norfolk pines in a beach reserve are the latest victims of the poisoner, who for months has outraged Manukau City residents and parks officers.

Council parks manager Digby Whyte said the reward was for information that would lead to the conviction of whoever was responsible.

"We hope the reward will be a good deterrent," Mr Whyte said yesterday.

"There's evidence all over the place ... trees have been bored and it's been sustained over the months.

"It can be tricky catching people in the act and we don't want to embolden anyone by letting them think they can get away with it.

"I feel there is a need to get the community involved to express their dismay."

A poplar tree has been removed from the reserve after it became unsafe.

The council is in no hurry to remove the latest victims from the Clovelly Esplanade Reserve, which is below a clifftop walkway that offers broad views of the Hauraki Gulf.

"I hope they will be left standing," said resident Shirley Warren, who is chairman of the Bucklands Beach and Pakuranga Resident and Ratepayers Association.

She said there was speculation over the motive for the poisoning.

The norfolk pines were about 40 years old and the pohutukawa were of a low-growing variety.

A Manukau parks officer, Biran Singh, said the attack on the trees was a classic case of people believing that their individual rights were greater than those of the wider public who appreciated trees.

"In recent years, trees on private property have also been poisoned and this has to stop."

A $500 reward was posted by the Waitakere City Council last year in an attempt to catch vandals who used a handsaw to fell two Titirangi village icons - a kauri and a titoki tree.

The North Shore City Council prosecuted a Birkenhead home owner who topped a century-old kauri tree because it blocked his sea view.

He was fined $7000 in the Environment Court for lopping 3.5m off the 19.5m kauri.

The fine is believed to be a record for damaging a protected tree in the Auckland region.

In August a Takapuna man was fined $4000 for having a pohutukawa tree reduced 6m in height in an attempt to get a sea view.