Man facing fine for illegally carving up native kauri and tawa

• Author: Sarah Curtis
• Published date: 24 June 2022
• Publication title: Northern Advocate, The (Whangarei, New Zealand)

Darrin Graeme McDonald was recently found guilty of illegally milling 2.107cu m of kauri and 0.431cu m of tawa at his Mangapai property during January and February, 2021

The fines he faces can stretch to $200,000 for the worst offenders.

In February 2018, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) staff advised McDonald of the need to register his sawmill and obtain written permission before milling native timber, but he failed to do either before milling the wood.

In January 2020, MPI inspectors acting on a tip-off went to McDonald’s property where they located a Mahoe sawmill and various milled indigenous timbers including kauri, totara, rimu, and swamp kauri and puriri.

A kauri log measuring 4.6m long and 95cm in diameter, was discovered along with 12 5m lengths of 150mm by 50mm timber, which McDonald said was tawa.

He claimed the tawa came from the Motu River and the kauri came from the beach at Waipū. He admitted milling both but said the kauri was Fijian kauri, not the native species.

The inspectors told him to stop milling the kauri log, register the sawmill, and become compliant with the...