Kaipara Connection: Waipoua Forest roading project adopts special precautions

The roading project has a special plan in place to prevent the spread of kauri dieback.

Indian Rotary Car Rally hits Dargaville
A car rally consisting of 32 members from 12 different Rotary Clubs from India have ventured their way to Dargaville to spread a message of peace and service to the community as well as highlighting environmental issues and climate change - as they travel the length and breadth of New Zealand.
Rotary Club Dargaville president Peter Garelja said a lunch function they held with their fellow Rotarians from India went really well and has strengthened ties between the two regions and clubs.

"They're representing a huge part of the world. The district from which these members came from has a population of 15 million people.
"So it was good to meet them and hand over banners to build up partnerships between the clubs, it was about comparing sharing and learning," said Garelja.
They also discussed joint partnerships, "they made one big announcement, they want to do a charitable programme, they want to work in partnership with us," he said.

Garelja said they were looking forward to getting the ball rolling and, "putting meat on those bones and said the group had been incredibly kind inviting them to travel to India and visit them at any time.
Past district governor (PDG) for India, Dr Philly Karani, a senior member of Rotary Club of Somerville (in East Auckland) has been co-ordinating the event with a dedicated committee of energetic Rotarians from the Rotary of Somerville who have been working out the logistics of the car rally, led by current PDG Subodh Joshi.

Joshi says, "During the rally we will be promoting the core areas of Rotary that starts with Rotary connects the world as well as focus on world peace, global warming and the worldwide campaign End Polio Now that Rotary has been working on for the last 30 years."

"We've helped immunise more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. So far, Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion toward eradicating the disease worldwide."
Joshi said that he is looking forward to creating goodwill and getting to understand the work being undertaken by local Rotarians.

The Indian car rally group had been to Auckland before travelling north to Paihia then back across to Dargaville on the second day of a 13-day tour.
They have successfully completed two rallies in the past including 10,000km in 21 days covering India, and an 8000km rally across Nepal, Bhutan and touching Bangladesh.

Garelja said it was great meeting a wide range of people who were, in his words, quite high up in their various fields.
READ MORE:
• 180,000 Northlanders asked to get behind Kia Kaha infrastructure campaign

Furthermore he said one of the reasons for the rally is to promote the movement globally.
"But also to spread the message that there is an international language of Rotary, we might speak different languages but underneath that is a common language which is service above self."

Garelja says they were handed T-shirts from the various club members and the local Dargaville club hoped to return the favour.
He says rally members were served a traditional indian meal of butter chicken and vegetarian curry, which he says was received really well.

A road re-sealing crew at work in the Waipoua Forest on SH12.

Caring for kauri
Major repair work is set to get under way on State Highway 12 in the Waipoua Forest - and Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency promises to take precautions to prevent the spread of kauri dieback.

The Transport Agency's contractors are working to repair and reseal 11 kms of State Highway 12 through the Waipoua Forest in Northland and are adopting special practices to protect against the spread of the disease.

It's the first time since the discovery of kauri dieback that a roading project of this scale has been undertaken.

The kauri dieback disease is devastating kauri trees is the Waipoua Forest, which is home to New Zealand's largest known living kauri tree, Tāne Mahuta. The disease is easily spread through soil being carried on dirty footwear or by animals, equipment and vehicles.

Transport Agency Northland system manager Jacqui Hori-Hoult says it's the first time there's been major work on the road since it was completed in 1996.

Contractors are digging up the road surface to carry out repairs before resealing, as well as rebuilding the roadside drainage system and cutting back vegetation.

"To drive the winding state highway through the forest is like taking a journey back in time to before European settlement and logging transformed the landscape. The forest grows right up to the road's edge, with the tree canopy overhanging the road and it's home to many rare native plants including native orchids. It's a pristine and spectacular environment and we want to do everything we can to preserve it."

"Because of the kauri dieback, the road team has to clean all vehicles and equipment before going into the forest and when they come out. Everything they disturb – whether they are digging up the road surface, trimming vegetation or fixing the roadside drainage - has to be picked up and taken out of the forest to a contaminated waste dump," she said.

Kauri dieback is a disease caused by a microscopic fungus-like organism, called phytophthora agathidicida that kills trees of all ages. It lives in the soil and infects kauri roots, damaging the tissues that carry nutrients and water within the tree, effectively starving it to death. There is no known cure.

Waipoua is a former state forest, now managed by local iwi Te Roroa with governance support from DoC, MPI, the Northland Regional Council and local councils, the Transport Agency and roading contractor Fulton Hogan. The work is being carried out under the Waipoua forest management plan which covers the edge of the road and its interface with the forest. The plan manages the effects of the highway on the forest's biodiversity.

Te Roroa development group general manager Snow Tane says it's a good team effort.

"Te Roroa is thankful for commitment and support from Waka Kotahi and roading contractor, Fulton Hogan to the work being undertaken in Waipoua including their response to mitigating against kauri dieback which is essential to the well-being of the ngahere."

SH12 forms part of Northland's Twin Coast Discovery Route.

"The Transport Agency thanks road users, our partners and local communities as we carry out this essential work to maintain the state highway's safety and resilience," says Ms Hori-Hoult.