Tree removal in Te Awamutu: what's local
Council and postcode
Te Awamutu, postcode 3800, is home to Waipā District Council's head office at 101 Bank Street. The district's other towns include Kihikihi, Pirongia and Ōhaupō, set among dairy, sheep, beef and deer farms.
Long-tailed bats
Before Waipā takes out one of its own trees, it checks whether the tree could be habitat for the critically endangered long-tailed bat, and brings in a specialist to monitor it if so. Its policy notes that a Wildlife Act authority from the Department of Conservation may be needed where a tree hosts threatened bats.
The lines company is local
Waipa Networks has its head office at 240 Harrison Drive. Under the Electricity (Hazards From Trees) Regulations 2003 it has to send notices to owners of trees growing within the set distances of its lines.
Common trees in Te Awamutu
Macrocarpa has been planted widely in New Zealand for shelter, and radiata pine is common too. The NZ Farm Forestry Association says macrocarpa prefers some shelter and is prone to toppling on some sites, and that fast-grown radiata on fertile ground can have few roots and blow over. On Waipā's rich soils, that second point matters. Our macrocarpa guide has more.
The same association warns that cypresses can cause abortion in pregnant cattle, so it suggests keeping them well back from fence lines where cattle graze next door.
If a belt runs under a power line, it isn't a job to do yourself. Waipa Networks asks you to contact it first if anyone or anything could come within 4 metres of a line, and says the work may need a qualified contractor or the line switched off. Clearing a whole belt is covered on our land clearing page.
Neighbours' trees in Te Awamutu
Waipā says that unless a tree is protected, it doesn't get involved in private tree matters, and your lawyer is the best person to advise you. In practice, start with a conversation. Under the Property Law Act 2007 you can cut back the parts of a neighbour's tree that cross onto your land, as far as the boundary, and the District Court can order trimming or removal if talking fails. Neighbours' trees has the detail.
Leaves from a council street tree are part of living with trees, as Waipā sees it: it won't clear them off your section, but it will consider pruning the tree back from your boundary.
Hiring an arborist in Te Awamutu
For an old tree with hollows, we'd ask the arborist whether it could be a bat roost before setting a date, and get an ecologist's view if there's any doubt. DOC says the bats breed in cavities in old trees, and keeping old trees helps them. We'd ring Waipā to check the Protected Tree List, and Waipa Networks if the tree is anywhere near a line. Then get the plan, the stump and the clean-up in writing.