Eugenie Sage and Ali Muhammad meet James Winterburn, left, Dan Kopruch and Tyreace Ellison who have been clearing scrub in the Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve. Photo / David Haxton
Eugenie Sage and Ali Muhammad meet James Winterburn, left, Dan Kopruch and Tyreace Ellison who have been clearing scrub in the Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve. Photo / David Haxton
On a cold sunny afternoon, two special visitors walked through the Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve.
They were Green MP Eugenie Sage and the party’s Ōtaki electorate candidate Ali Muhammad.
The pair were particularly interested in the impact the Jobs For Nature funding package was having on the reserve.
Sage had played an instrumental role in the billion-dollar funding package set up by the Government in response to the Covid-19 pandemic to support people into nature-based employment around the country.
As they toured the reserve yesterday, led by Waikanae Estuary Care Group members Robin Gunston and William Brown, they met a group of workers who were taking a well-earned break from scrub cutting. The group, employed by Groundtruth via the funding package, talked to the pair about the various work they were doing.
Brown said the workers, and others employed via the fund, had been very beneficial to the reserve, especially in heavy-duty work such as gorse clearing.
The visit was also a chance for the pair to see an important ecological area and showcase the work that is being carried out by a volunteer army.
Aerial view featuring the Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve.
Spearheading the work are members from the care group which has community agreements in place with the Department of Conservation and Kāpiti Coast District Council.
The care group has about 150 members of which about 40 are very active in the reserve doing various tasks such as preparing seeds, planting, weeding, wildlife monitoring, and more.
The group plants about 3000 species a year from seeds grown locally with the majority eco-sourced from the 80h reserve and prepped in a nursery.
One of the group’s initiatives, which Brown described as “our biggest success”, was the Adopt-A-Plot which has seen 35 people looking after 26 plots which includes regular watering to ensure plant species survival.
Brown also pointed out an area called the Otaihanga Bowl, which a group of five women were looking after.
“They’re called the Otaihanga Bowlers and are very much hands-on ladies.”
With so much work under way, pest control is crucial, with Gunston highlighting a doubling of traps to 80. “It’s called the ring of steel.”
Robin Gunston, middle, has been a strong advocate of the Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve. Photo / David Haxton
The reserve is a popular walk, via designated tracks: in the year to August 31, 2022 a total of 58,000 people were recorded using the north Paraparaumu to Otaihanga section, and over 300,000 on the northern side Otaihanga bridge to Tuture St area.
Sage couldn’t believe it when she met her party’s Southland candidate David Kennedy and his wife Vicki strolling through the reserve. The couple had been visiting family. “It’s a small world,” she beamed.
There were two alarm bells during the visit though.
The first was at the start of the tour when two vehicles were seen illegally parked on sand dunes in the reserve.
Her irritation was softened when Gunston pointed out various measures that had seen the volume of illegal parking halved: last year there were 17 incidents reported whereas the year before was 32.
The second was at the end of the tour when she was shocked to see a number of koi carp in a lake which could potentially migrate into the wider reserve.
Sage was keen to advise the Ministry of Primary Industries, while Brown quipped that “a big fishing competition” could deal with the situation.
Overall though, she enjoyed touring the reserve which she described as “pretty amazing”.
