WTF? - #001 in a series

In yesterday's rag:

the storm lashing the country will create the perfect conditions for kauri dieback to spread in the Waitākere Ranges, an Auckland iwi says.

Te Kawerau a Maki performed a rāhui ceremony in early December to help stop the spread of kauri dieback in the West Auckland rainforest. 

A rāhui is a form of tapu restricting access to an area.

WTF?  I'd say they're another group looking for a cash handout whilst trying to enforce Stone Age practices with zero mandate believing they are witnessing another New Zealand species extinction.

with hundreds of visitors still visiting the 16,000 hectare forest, ... the wet conditions were perfect for spreading the killer disease

The general public rightly thinks "Up yours!".    Also the local council is having a bob each way sitting on the fence knowing the the public will never wear full closure whilst trying to pander to the natives.

I've always wondered how the Agatha Australis weeds that infest many a Titirangi section seem to thrive with zero dieback evidence in spite of close human contact on puggy clay.  They seem to survive OK even with trespassing rabid feral greenies roosting in them.

Their bigger cousins up the road are apparently succumbing to an early grave.  Maybe it's the natural cycle of such forest giants.  All that tens-of-centuries-old swamp kauri had to come from somewhere.