Wendy Holland at the 2003 planting. |
TREE PLANTING AT BREAM HEAD SCENIC RESERVE - 2005
This winter we hope to plant two thousand young manuka trees and 150 pohutukawa on the coastal edge of Bream Head Scenic Reserve. This continues the ongoing work of the Bream Head Restoration Committee towards the revegetation of parts of the Reserve from Smugglers Bay to Home Bay and Urquhart Bay and on the steep hill sides above Ocean Beach and the Bream Islands.
"Originally this was all native coastal forest." says Wendy Holland, pictured right on the 2003 planting, and spokesperson for the Committee, "There was a rich diversity of native plant and animal species. Clearing the bush and the introduction of exotic grasses like kikuyu has changed all that.
" The Department of Conservation has fenced off the narrow coastal fringe from Smugglers Beach to Urquhart Bay to exclude cattle," says Wendy, "which, while keeping the kikuyu short by grazing, had resulted in erosion of the coastal edge and damage to existing pockets of bush.
"The exclusion of the cattle has allowed the kikuyu to become tall and dense. A first step in the process of revegetation is to knock back the kikuyu by spraying. Kikuyu is a light-demanding grass. We have chosen predominantly young manuka in peat pots which we’ll plant at one metre intervals, and a collection of others such as pohutukawa and flax, to allow dense thickets to develop. These will eventually exclude light and stop the kikuyu from becoming re-established," explains Wendy.
"As the plants grow they become habitat corridors for native birds carrying seeds from the forest on Bream Head. In this way other native plant species will become established and through a natural succession the resulting plant community which develops will resemble the original bush ."
"The seeds for the young plants were sourced from Bream Head," says Wendy, "and have been raised by volunteers at the Kerikeri Shadehouse and a number of similar seedlings have been donated by Alter-Natives Wholesale Nursery of Waipu."
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