Posted on 09th September, 2022
After a three-year hiatus (due to the Covid restrictions), the Tawapou Conservation Trust with the support from QEII and the financial backing of Stevenson’s Trust and MPI, resumed the community involvement in the revegetation restoration work on Tawapou Farm.
On Saturday, July the 30th - after weeks of relentless rain - we were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunny morning. Between 120-150 volunteers turned up with their spades in hand to attack the hillside. Within a few hours, the army of volunteers, had managed to plant almost 8,000 plants. With long-rank kikuyu and steep terrain, this was not an easy job.
Tawapou Farm encompasses 120 hectares of which 94% has been placed in an open space covenant (QEII trust). The planting is a continuation of the 15 plus years that have gone into revegetating various areas on the farm and to date approximately 150,000 native plants have been established on cutover pine forest and pasture. The long-term aim of the conservation trust is to revegetate the entire pastoral areas left on the farm, which is perhaps another 70 hectares. This may seem like a daunting task but one we are committed to.
Being the furthest point east and the closest to the adjacent Poor Knights Islands Reserve makes the whenua an important environmental location for the reestablishment of fauna and flora in our backyard. Over the years we have had several kiwi releases and witnessed on film the first fledging Oi (Grey faced Petrel) on the coast in approximately 80 years. With the help of the community and the halo of trapping networks, we are seeing results that can be achieved with sustained effort. It is certainly an ongoing battle, but the gains over the past few years have been significant with regular fledging morepork and kiwi, and with increased numbers of tui and kaka resident for several months of the year.
Shortly after 8.5 hectares of mature pine forest was harvested, a major planting of native trees was undertaken with almost 80,000 trees planted. At this time our friends from Manaaki Whenua, with funding provided by MPI, established plots throughout the replanted area to monitor revegetation growth and survival rates. The plots were established in burnt-over areas, ground with no treatment as well as pasture. This work will continue for some time and will help establish best practice throughout the region for the reestablishment of native forest. For those of you interested, Dr. Robyn Simcock’s preliminary report is attached below.
Tawapou 2022 revegetation summary
It is always hard to gauge how many people from the community will turn up on the day, as it turns out this is not something we should worry about. All our calls for help needed from the community have been so well received. On behalf of the conservation trust and the wider Bowden whanau, we want to thank Nan Pullman (QEII), Stevenson’s Trust and all those that gave up their time to come on the day. Thank you all for such an amazing effort to get so many trees into the ground. We were certainly humbled by your support which really excites and boosts our enthusiasm to continue the job. It was cool listening to the chatter of the advancing wall of people planting as they moved along the hill and from what I heard, it was a great social occasion as well.
One of the most important and rewarding parts of the day is the gathering afterwards with delicious food provided by a team of women from the community. Some of whom, were also able to volunteer their time to coordinate the lunch on the day. We also thank our guest speakers, Robyn and Cam, for their informative and entertaining talks during the lunch. Photos attached were taken and kindly provided by Malcolm Pullman.
