Te Pahii Bird Sanctuary

Te Pahii Wilderness Sanctuary, 100 acres of wilderness. Two families have camped on this land for 35 years. It is very special because it has 3 white sand beaches which are very good for surf. We soon realised that the beaches fledged about 30 NZ Dotterels owing to its remoteness, with few people and dogs on the beach. Both families agreed from the start that the wilderness aspect of this land was very important. The land had no road access so you have to carry everything you needed in and take most of it back our when you finished. In the beginning we started planting Pohutukawa close to the beach for shade. Then some specialist trees, Kauri, Kowhai, Puriri, Kahikatea were planted in special places meaning something to the person who planted them. Then about 25 years ago, DOC dropped 1080 on our land and the pest (possums mostly) populations decreased dramatically. So that our families’ efforts with 10+ Timms traps, and various baits (rat, possum, rabbit, ant, hedgehogs) were able to maintain the low numbers to this day. Weed control was a yearly fight but it has been reasonably successful, no gorse, Australian sedge, ginger, wild pine, and very little thistle. It was about this time that reforestation started to be a hope. With the help of Project Crimson, we carried in 500-600 Pohutukawa seedlings (surplus to the project) in and it was our first real test. We had not planned the planting and it was late in the winter so our success was poor with only 20% surviving, despite trips up to clear Kikuyu and water it was very demoralising, but made us realize careful thought had to be put into plantings which had to be done in May June at the beginning of the winter. There followed plantings of 50 trees of the more hardy Karo, Manuka, Kanuka varieties and spreading Flax, Pingao, and other Kikuyu beating plants each year while our children were amenable to carry etc. But as they got older and acquired mortgages and babies, planting numbers dropped and became more personal. We have for the last 5 years planted 100 Pingao each year in the dunes to partner the already vigorous spinifex to stabilise the dunes. We are committed to planting native only. A QEII covenent is about to be put over the complete title which will mean it remains a wilderness for ever. Due to the great success of The Shade House volunteer plant nursery we have been able to get, at extremely affordable cost, 900 native trees and a band of experienced planters from Project Island Song to plant these trees. There is much work that we have to do, getting the trees on site (no road access!) and killing the Kikuyu before planting but the opportunity was too good to miss so we are committed. With TREES THAT COUNT HELP we will try to do this most years into the future.