save the world:Save our track

This is a New Zealand Fern that grows to become a tree, the Ponga tree. You might think you are in the set of The Last Samurai and acting along with Tom Cruise.






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You see those clumps of tall pine trees? You see the native bush under the trees? The city council wants to put elephants there and fence it off from the rest of the people to enjoy. Well, not the rest of the people, according to the council, reckoning that nobody uses it.

But there are people like me who love to track in a parcel of land near the city. On the way up or down the track, I can see the elephant section of Auckland Zoo. I love this little track as it goes up a steep slope and is quite challenging. I always take my visitors to Western Springs, and for the more energetic, I take them to climb the track. They love it. Where can you find a bush track in the suburb of a city with more than a million people?

There is a campaign to "Help us save our track."

This bush track from West View Rd at Western Springs is not under used. It's not - we use it all the time and it's a very special part of our neighbourhood.

If a plan to hand about 22,000 square metres of Western Springs Lakeside Park over to the Auckland Zoo goes ahead, some West View Rd residents could have up to 10 elephants based near their properties. Imagine the poor babies and their mums.

Resident Annette Isbey says claims by the Auckland City Council that parkland earmarked for an elephant encounter experience is underused are untrue.

"It's a good walking track. People come before and after work to take their dogs down."

Residents have in recent years had to fight to keep the land free of illegal mountain bikers, who rode through the area damaging plants.

"It's an ecologically sensitive area. Elephants are certainly insensitive about where they are treading," she says.