Where can you visit a patch the last patch of original forest that covered the river flats of the Whanganui River when people first arrived?
Gordon Park Scenic Reserve (GPSR) is a relatively little known (its not even in http://whanganuinz.com/) but easy-to-find treasure of Wanganui. To find it, travel through Wanganui East, follow No 3 Line about 2km, then turn left at the Kaimatira Rd corner. Watch for the DoC car park at the end of the tall forest of GPSR. A flat gravel path, wheel-chair compatible, loops through one part.
This forest grows on deep fertile soils on an old course of the Whanganui River. It is swamp forest with surface water through most of it for 6-8 months each year (but only over the track during exceptional wet weather).
First time visitors are generally astounded by the large trees (kahikatea and matai) and dense undergrowth of smaller trees, vines, shrubs and ground cover plants. The 8ha of forest has about 150 species of native plants including 16 species of divaricating shrubs - tangled shrubs with small leaves, which many botanists believe let them survive moa browsing. Seven divaricating species here change as they become trees with open branching and larger leaves, like lacebark, kaikomako and ribbonwood.
The ground cover contains 10 native carex species, a high number for a small area. Carex is a genus of sedges often called cutty grasses, some tussock-forming and some forming swards by underground runners. One, carex secta or purei, has been a success story for the Friends of Gordon Park (FOGP), unpaid volunteers with DoC. Purei was listed here by the Museum Botanical Group in 1988 but only rediscovered, as a single plant, in 2008. FOGP members collected seed from this plant, grew and returned plants just a year later, filling gaps and weedy areas around the track and car park. Hundreds of the large, shiny green tussocks (with cutting leaves) are now setting their own seed. Schools have helped collect seed from the reserve, grown them on and, in some cases, returned to plant them. Karamu (Coprosma robusta) has been the most successful.
