Storm damage and fallen trees in Nelson
Call 111 if anyone is in danger or a slip has hit a house. Treat any line a tree touches as live and keep well back; find your lines company on the Electricity Networks Aotearoa map. Photograph the damage for your insurer once it's safe.
Council tree rules in Nelson
The Nelson Resource Management Plan has three classes. Heritage Trees get the strongest protection, Landscape Trees the next, and Local Trees the lightest. Heritage and Landscape Trees are described in Appendix 2 and shown on the Planning Maps.
In the Residential Zone rules, removing a Heritage Tree is a non-complying activity and removing a Landscape Tree is discretionary, so both need a resource consent. A Local Tree can be removed if council gets written notice at least 1 week before the work.
Trimming is tightly limited too. A Heritage Tree can only have crown cleaning (dead, broken and diseased wood), or canopy lifting on road reserve, without consent, and trimming it for shade or debris goes through consent. A Landscape Tree can be crown thinned to accepted arboricultural practice.
Tree removal in Nelson: what's local
Slips on the hills
Between 16 and 20 August 2022 a storm dropped 742 mm in The Brook catchment, and over 350 landslips were recorded. Atawhai, the Tāhunanui Hills and the Grampians all had slips, and the plan's slope risk overlays still apply. A big tree on a steep section is a question for an arborist and sometimes an engineer.
Sun and dry spells
NIWA puts Nelson's sunshine at about 2,400 hours a year, among the highest in the country, with about 1000 mm of rain. Dry spells of 15 days or more happen about once every 4 months, and fire bans apply across much of Nelson at times.
Pine on the skyline
Council's Right Tree Right Place programme is moving about 600 hectares of its pine forest in the Maitai, Brook, Roding and Marsden reserves to continuous canopy cover.
Trees and power lines in Nelson
Section 330 of the Resource Management Act allows emergency work, such as removing a tree threatening life or property, with consent sought afterwards. It's for genuine emergencies, so photograph the danger and tell council.
Electricity Networks Aotearoa's lines company map lists Network Tasman; confirm which company serves your street on that map. Leave anything near a line to the lines company and the arborists it approves. The power lines guide explains the notice system.
Hiring an arborist in Nelson
Check the Planning Maps for the tree's class before you get quotes, and ring council if it's marked. For a Local Tree, send the written notice early. On a slope, ask the arborist how the tree comes down without loosening the bank, and keep the stump in place where it helps hold the ground.