Ōhope International Golf Club has been fined $38,500 after club volunteers removed more than 500 native trees and shrubs from a coastal dune area.

A judgement was handed down by the Environment Court this week, with the Whakatāne District Council set to receive 90 percent of the $38,500 fine.

The council incurred costs of over $126,000 in its legal case against the club.

The enforcement order includes a detailed restoration management plan for the next 10 years, agreed upon by both parties, requiring the club to replant, restore and maintain the site, with estimated costs of up to $300,000 to be paid for by the club.

Council planning, regulatory and infrastructure general manager David Bewley said the incurred costs associated with the prosecution totalled $126,174 not including staff costs.

He said the sentencing sent a strong message about the importance of adhering to environmental protections.

“The fine and enforcement order recognise the serious impact of the club’s actions and while we recognise they were not deliberate, this sentence emphasises that such recklessness will not be tolerated."

Bewley said the court ordered restoration plan included planting of 250 pohutukawa and 110 plants of four other specified species, with all plants of a specified size and sourced from the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Planting would be done by club volunteers trained, co-ordinated and supervised by a council approved restoration specialist.

Pest and weed control would be carried out by suitably qualified individuals holding current licences

The club would need to report to the council annually and and variation or failure to comply would be referred back to the court.

Ōhope woman Jo Steens, who first alerted local media [Beacon] to the removal of the trees, said she was pleased with the outcome.

She said she was particularly happy about the rehabilitation plan the court has put in place.

“It appears thorough, has taken into account the difficulty in restoring the site, such as pest and weed control and drought, and the time frame required to re-establish viable plantings. For me this is the important part of the environmental court judgment.

“I see the dollar amount of the fine as representative compensation which is all it can ever be really,” Steens said.

"Valuing a mature tree or trees is never a straight forward exercise … how do you put a price on size and decades of growth in hostile conditions?

"How can you value the sadness and anger of those who felt the loss of, in particular, the two large pohutukawa.”

The reserve land leased to the club by the council is within the Coastal Protection Zone under the Whakatāne District Plan.

Ōhope Beach Golf Links outgoing president Lidi Schiefelbusch said the club acknowledged the importance of environmental stewardship and were fully committed to the rehabilitation and restoration of the affected area as outlined in the Court’s Enforcement Order.

“Our actions were not intentional but a misstep, and we deeply regret the unintended harm caused,” Schiefelbusch said.

Ōhope Beach Golf Links had held a lease for the land for 54 years.

“When the lease began, the land was barren. Over the decades, we have meticulously maintained the land, planting native trees and seeds and ensuring their growth to support local wildlife and stabilize the coastal environment.

"Nothing like this has ever happened in our long history of caretaking this land, and we are deeply saddened by this unfortunate event.

“We respect the cultural and ecological significance of the land and are working closely with the council, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa, and other parties to ensure our actions moving forward align with these values.

“As a longstanding part of the Ōhope community, we are dedicated to doing better and fostering trust through our ongoing commitment to environmental protection and restoration."

According to the court documents, the club had been in discussions with the council since 2022 about the development of a new driving range, which would include parts of the property that were within the Significant Indigenous Biodiversity site.

They were told by the council that any removal of native vegetation would require a resource consent.

At the end of July last year, a working bee was undertaken by four unpaid volunteer club members on over two hectares of reserve land it leased from the council, zoned as Coastal Protection Land in the Whakatāne District Plan.

The lead volunteer had been instructed by the head greenkeeper to remove exotic trees, particularly self-seeding Banksias, using chainsaws and painting the tree stumps with poison, Vigilant, to prevent regrowth.

The greenkeeper and club committee did not directly oversee the work, and only became aware that it had included native trees after the work was completed.

Jo Steens was devastated when walking along Ōhope Beach last year to see the felling of mature pohutukawa trees in the dune are between Ōhope Beach Golf Links and the beach. Photo Troy Baker

The council was alerted to the issue on August 7, after Steens alerted local media company The Beacon and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Their investigation found 521 trees had been removed, of which 488 were natives.

They included eight pohutukawa, 471 pittosporum, six coprosma, two griselina and one Corynocarpus (karaka).

A more detailed assessment by Wildlands consultants on a subsection of the area showed almost double the number of native trees destroyed, including two more pohutukawa.

Council staff served legal proceedings on the club president for the removal of the indigenous vegetation without a resource consent and in breach of the Whakatāne District Plan.

Their case included a cultural impact assessment prepared by Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa which highlighted the cultural and spiritual significance of the site, noting that the loss of indigenous vegetation disrupted the wairua, or spirit, of the land.

The assessment also noted the ecological significance of the area with both the native and the introduced banksia trees being essential to protecting the dunes and the golf course itself from coastal erosion.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.