Award Nominee

The North Shore Branch of Forest and Bird wanted to do something special to mark the new Millennium and decided in 1999 to adopt the North Shore City Council s Tuff Crater reserve. The objective was to revegetate what was mainly a bare grassy area by planting The Millennium Forest in natives. The first plantings took place over the 1999-2000 summer and have continued ever since.

It became apparent early on that hand-in-hand with planting there would be required an ongoing effort to control the weeds which infested the edge of the crater. Primary targets were moth vine, pampas grass, privet and gorse. Also present and requiring attention were wattle, honeysuckle, cotoneaster, eleagnus, smilax and asparagus fern. There is a major planting day held each year which attracts upwards of a hundred participants but the less popular work of weedbusting is carried out once a month over the summer. Ably led by Anne Denny, there are 28 names on the Weeders List and usually about a third of these turn out on any given day. Anne plans the focus of each working bee and the group usually meets at 6 pm on a Monday evening and works for between an hour and an hour and a half.

The objective is to create a reserve dominated by native vegetation that will encourage the return of native fauna and provide a stepping stone in the Northwest Wildlink Auckland-wide campaign to provide a means for birds currently confined to offshore islands in the Hauraki Gulf to reach the Waitakere Ranges.

There has been a close working relationship established with the Parks Department of the council. Council supplies all plants for the annual planting and lays on a sausage sizzle as well on the day. They provide us with approved biocides to assist with weedbusting and also support our work by providing contractors as required for heavier work. We recently drew up a five-year plan which has been agreed with the council and is forming the basis of our efforts. A copy of the plan is included as supporting material for this application. This year s weedbusting has been organised to clear the areas that will be planted during the winter.

Another initiative from the committee has been to encourage a biological survey of the reserve to establish what is present now. This will be maintained over the years and records kept which will hopefully record the arrival of new species as they occur, coinciding with the improved ecological health of the environment. Pit traps are being deployed for insects, moth trapping is taking place monthly and the bird list for the reserve has reached 29 species.

While efforts have been concentrated on the Tuff Crater for the past 5-6 years, our branch has been supporting weed busting efforts for much longer at a variety of reserves in the area, for example Kauri Glen and LeRoy s Bush.