Rewilding the Wakapuaka Awa

Great things are happening in the Wakapuaka catchment in North Nelson. The catchment includes the Wakapuaka Awa (river) and its tributaries—the Teal River and Lud River, Paremata Flats, Delaware Bay and Rotokua Cable Bay and estuary. Surrounded by steep hills, deep valleys and pockets of mature native bush, it’s a popular destination for water sports, mountain biking, walking and bird watching.

The Wakapuaka Awa runs through 2km of land owned by the Kidson family and their neighbours Richard and Elina Ussher from The Cable Bay Adventure Park. Sharing a passion for native forests and river health, four years ago they began the largest restoration project on private land in Nelson – Wakapuaka Mouri. And the project’s on track to plant over 75,000 natives over 14 hectares of the river bank, carry out extensive pest trapping, weed management and create more local jobs.

The native plantings will help create a wildlife corridor between Paremata Flats Reserve and Hira. With very little lowland forest and wetlands remaining in the area, the Kidson family have also fenced off a small tributary and wetland on their property and planted another 5500 native trees and grasses.

The main aims were to establish natives, increase biodiversity and improve water quality – but the project has also led to new jobs and recreation opportunities in the area. A small native nursery at Cable Bay Adventure Park has been established to propagate eco-sourced seed from native bush on both properties. And a new community cycle and walkway from Cable Bay Adventure Park to Maori Pa Rd has just been built. It’s part of their long-term vision to provide recreational access for people to enjoy this beautiful part of Nelson and encourage other landowners to join in, with the hope of extending the path all the way from Hira to Cable Bay.

The project is a fantastic example of communities coming together to support biodiversity. Project manager, Sophia Bisdee from Tasman Environmental Trust, is keen to have more local people helping with the ongoing planting, trapping, and weeding. She hopes other landowners in the area will be inspired to restore natural areas on their properties too.

The project is funded by The Ministry for the Environment’s Freshwater Improvement Fund, with support from Nelson City Council, Tasman Environmental Trust, Ngati Tama, FuturEcology, NMIT Trainee Rangers, Pacific Discovery groups, Taskforce Green and enthusiastic community volunteers. If you’re interested in volunteering for this project, we’d love to hear from you!

Source - https://www.tet.org.nz/tet-projects/rewilding-the-wakapuaka-awa/