More than 62,000 natives were planted within the Waihi catchment. Photo / Supplied
More than 62,000 natives were planted within the Waihi catchment. Photo / Supplied
A huge native planting effort has taken place in the Waihi catchment, with 28ha of native forest being planted across nine farms.
The Waihi catchment – which runs from the mountains near Lake Rotoiti and Rotoehu to the coastal estuary at Pukehina – is one of the Bay’s most polluted catchments. Planting was done to retire marginal grazing land and help protect sensitive waterways.
The planting took place on properties that have Environmental Programme Agreements with Bay of Plenty Regional Council, and was co-funded and co-ordinated by Wai Kōkopu.
The project is also doubling as a large-scale trial of forestry-grade native planting in the catchment that may substantially reduce the cost for farmers to retire marginal or unprofitable grazing land.
Wai Kōkopu restoration manager Tom Anderson said the Waihi Estuary was once a main food bowl for the Bay of Plenty but was now considered one of the most polluted in New Zealand.
“Shellfish gathering was regularly undertaken but is now generally unsafe because of the state of the estuary. The rivers feeding the estuary are also not safe to swim in.
“Overall, because of high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and E. coli, the estuary’s entire ecosystem has been compromised with many native plants, fish and birdlife struggling to survive.”
The Waihi catchment runs from the mountains near Lake Rotoiti and Rotoehu to the coastal estuary at Pukehina. Photo / Supplied
Wai Kōkopu’s restoration team has planted 62,750 forestry-grade native plants across erosion-prone gully heads, steep hillsides and wetlands in recent weeks. Forestry-grade seedlings are similar to pine seedlings – they have substantially less soil around their roots, making them cheaper and more efficient to plant.
“By applying large-scale forestry techniques to native planting, we are aiming to lower the cost of native establishment, helping landowners and funders’ dollars go further,” Anderson said.
“Other successful projects around the country using this method have shown that forestry-grade native plants can more than halve the cost of conventional native establishment to between $5000 to $12,000 per hectare. We hope to replicate these strong survival rates in this trial.”
Anderson said animal and weed pest control was essential to successful long-term native establishment, and plants would be regularly checked.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council paid for about half the cost, with the remaining funds coming from landowners and Wai Kōkopu (funded by BayTrust and TECT).
Local farmer John Burke and his son James took part in the project by planting 6600 native seedlings.
“We’re confident that with the right management it will be successful. It’s not going to be something that you have an instant native bush overnight, but within five or six years we’ll have full canopy closure,” Burke said.
“We’ve got a degraded catchment and as farmers we’re looking to do what we can on our footprint of land which will contribute to meeting the vision for Wai Kōkopu.”
A diverse species mix was used during the recent planting project. About 60 per cent of plants were mānuka and kānuka, with the remaining 40 per cent made up of karamu, kohuhu, tarata, mahoe, whauwhaupau (five finger), makomako (wineberry), harakeke (flax), and ti kouka (cabbage tree). A total of 2500 plants were planted per hectare at a 2 x 2m spacing, with each planter able to plant about 1000 trees a day.
