Hauturu Motu/Clark Island is accessible by wading at low tide and is popular in summer months for rock-pool fossickers and kayakers.
Hauturu Motu/Clark Island is accessible by wading at low tide and is popular in summer months for rock-pool fossickers and kayakers.
Trees in the wrong place are set to be eradicated from Hauturu Motu/Clark Island, just off the coast of Whangamatā.
Tangata whenua guardian group Tunaiti Kaitiaki Rōpū and Waikato Regional Council are partnering on a project to prevent further spread of the island’s wilding pines, which are threatening its native flora, fauna and archaeological sites.
Hauturu is one of four islands that comprise Tunaiti Motu, just off the coast of the Coromandel township.
Waikato Regional Council said Tunaiti Kaitiaki Rōpū was working towards the upkeep of the islands as wildlife sanctuaries, including the eradication of all rodents since 2020.
Kaitiaki spokesman Errol Gilbert said the removal of the pines and ongoing wilding pine management was part of Tunaiti Kaitiaki Rōpū's efforts to restore the ngahere and native biodiversity of the motu back to their former glory.
“We need to treat the natural environment with respect and restore, improve and preserve the biodiversity values, to honour those who were before us and for future generations.
“Wilding pines, along with rats and mice, dogs and rubbish; they never belonged on the motu and they do not support our kaupapa.”
Kororā (little blue penguin), tītī (mutton bird), at least three species of skink and gecko, and many species of passerine birds call the Tunaiti Motu home.
Work to remove wilding pines from Hauturu Motu/Clark Island will begin on Tuesday. Image: / Waikato Regional Council
Once abundant in native wildlife, including tuatara, the islands are today rated category 1 priority biodiversity sites, which mean they are critically endangered and naturally uncommon ecosystems that support threatened and at-risk flora and fauna.
Hauturu, the largest of the islands at 7 hectares, was likely cleared of vegetation prior to the early 1940s and has regenerating coastal cliff and coastal forest ecosystems, the council said.
Waikato Regional Council biodiversity sites lead Jacob Dexter said the wilding pines were threatening that regeneration because of their ability to invade and impact upon indigenous ecosystems and landscapes.
“Wilding pines are a tree in the wrong place that can overwhelm landscapes, out-competing native plants which provide food, habitat and other resources that native flora and fauna need to survive.
“Production forestry may play an important role in the economy of the Waikato region, but wind-dispersed conifer seed can result in unplanned and unmanaged wilding trees that grow much faster and quickly out-compete native forest species.
“Eradicating wilding pines from Hauturu is a high priority step towards restoring the island’s ecological and cultural landscape and recreational values, not only for mana whenua but for the Whangamatā community and visitors alike.”
Work to remove the trees is set to begin on Tuesday next week and expected to take four to five days.
There would be no public access to the island while work was under way.
Dexter said some of the trees were quite large and in rugged and precarious terrain, so removal would be a logistical challenge.
“The larger trees visible from Whangamatā beach will be cut down, but the smaller, less accessible trees located on the northern cliffs will require abseiling by the contractor to drill and fill them with a non-residual poison; after the initial knockdown, we’ll do a further two years of seedling and sapling removal if needed.”
