Native Replanting & Paddock Retirement
Before 2018, the property comprised 60 hectares of grazing land with 28 hectares in bush and wetlands. We have since retired 16 hectares of land from grazing and have collaborated with Rural Design (1984) Ltd to plant over 19,000 native trees, primarily targeting eroding slopes, gullies and wetlands. We couldn’t have achieved this without Auckland Council and MPI’s native planting funding programmes. Outside of the funding we received, we have planted around 5,000 native trees to establish shelterbelts and buffer zones.
Stock-proof Fencing
The funding we received also covered part of the 1,273m of new 7-wire post and batten fencing that was erected to protect the native plants as well as protect existing bush and waterways from further sheep and cattle damage.
Stream Restoration & Monitoring
The paddocks that we have retired from grazing and planted with native vegetation targets the various streams and wetlands that run through our property. We’ve been collaborating with the Mahurangi East Land Restoration (MELR) Programme to undertake sediment monitoring and stream monitoring to better understand the impact that our project is having on the environment. MELR have also installed fish ladders on our culverts to help important native species move further upstream and the results have been very promising so far!
Kauri dieback
The main block of native forest showed signs of severe kauri dieback disease (Phytophthora agathidicida) when we purchased the property in 2018. We have been working with Kauri Rescue and Plant & Food Research to treat the trees and undertake research into Phytophthora agathidicida‘s potential effects on other native trees. However, as the disease is wide-spread through one of our bush blocks, we are taking measures such as avoiding entering the bush area and ensuring existing fencing is stock-proof. While many pockets of kauri appear to be affected, there are some resilient and healthy kauri trees as well as other native trees emerging.
