The Papamoa log that raised $150 for a local charity will now aid in keeping someone warm in winter.

A couple of forestry workers saw the log on the beach and thought it would make great firewood for their Nan.

The log being chopped up for firewood.

'I didn't know she was an icon. They should put a sign on it. How am I supposed to know?” says Nick Fielding.

'I think the tree is about 100 years old. You can tell by the grain of the tree. If they had a big sign on here I wouldn't have gone near it.”

A couple of pieces of the gum wood were cut off for firewood for Nick's 74-year-old Nan.

The log was put up for auction a couple of months ago by the Papamoa Facebook page administrator Rosalie Crawford, as a means of raising money for the Papamoa Food Bank.

Local businessman Yo Roberts won the auction with his $150 bid. Read more here.

When told about what happened to the log, Yo Roberts says it was news to him.

"I bought it for charity and if someone is going along and chopping it up for firewood, then it's a shame.

"It's completely water logged and won't make good firewood. It will take a year to dry out. I would have thought it was illegal for someone to go and do that."

Yo feels it is quite selfish for someone to go along and chop it up, whether it be for firewood or just plain vandalising it.

"It's ridiculous. It's a shame."

'I've seen it become a much photographed object with families and people going there to visit it and play around it,” says Rosalie.

'Last week one family posted that they'd travelled from Auckland to visit family and while here would visit the Papamoa Log. It had started to become a little bit of a local icon.”

Regional council senior planner Jo Noble says council bylaw only permits vehicles on the beach for specific purposes or if they're authorised by the authorities.

The taking of natural material from the foreshore and seabed is controlled by the Resource Management Act.

While the removal of a few shells or driftwood is not a concern, removing quantities of material to sell for a profit is.

'Also, if the method of removal is going to generate disturbance (for example using heavy machinery to remove the material) then a resource consent would be required,” confirms Jo.

Removing driftwood is a permitted activity in the regional Coastal Environment Plan and doesn't need a resource consent as long as vehicles are not used on the foreshore.

Tauranga City Council engineer Peter Mora says the men had stopped cutting by the time he got down there.

"Log is now cut in two so likely to mobilise on a storm tide and if it goes to sea again it will be a navigation hazard.

"I have some other logs at Harrisons Cut they can get which are dry and that might protect the sandbags from getting damaged with the smaller logs moving around in the drain channel."