In his letter of 23 September, the supercilious Dr Keith Corbett, MBE, tried to characterise opponents of the mangrove invasion of Tauranga's estuaries as 'the richer Tauranga red-necks”. I am a member of a family that has lived beside the Welcome Bay estuary for almost a hundred years, a family of modest means, having purchased its property when the land value was about 20 pounds an acre. I do concede that we own a dinghy.
The claim that the mangrove invasion of the Welcome Bay estuary, which began some 30 years ago, has somehow boosted bird life and fish life is pure fiction. Every person who has lived beside this estuary for over, say, 50 years will confirm this. It is a shame that for many years Forest and Bird attempted to thwart our efforts to limit the spread of mangroves in our estuary. As a result we are now having to resort to the removal of mangroves by machine, which, although far from ideal, is the right course of action and has support from a wide cross section of the community.

R.Rimmer Tauranga.