Wairoa Stream: 17,847 native trees, 4km of track and counting

Shortly after completing the Covid disrupted 2020 winter planting programme along the Wairoa Stream, Rod Brown sent through his updated data on the number and species of trees that have been planted along the banks of the Wairoa stream since 2012 together with a breakdown of the effort and cost.

17,847 trees have been planted over the eight years of the project and we are not finished.

The project does not just involve the planting of trees. There is the removal of invasive weed species, preparation of the areas for planting and, once planted, there is at least a five year commitment to weed control and watering to ensure that the trees survive. Furthermore, in order to make this environment friendly to native fauna, the Friends of Wairoa Stream, supported by Kiwi Coast, have commenced a predator trapping programme. Currently we have 30 rat and 4 possum traps set along part of the stream banks.

Having made this commitment to preserve and extend this stream-side natural habitat corridor through Kerikeri, there has been the additional effort of building and extending a walking track to allow residents and visitors to enjoy this new community asset. The track current runs for 3km from Alderton Park to near Placemakers. There is also a side track running from Dalton Reserve on Inlet Road which joins the main track near Te Wairere waterfall. We have recently added historical & geological signs at several points of interest and will be shortly adding botanical signage.

This all takes a lot of voluntary effort and does not happen free of cost. Rod has put together some data to help us appreciate where the $303,000 value of the project has come from. The following tables and charts outline the contributions both in hours and money that have allowed us to build this valuable community asset. For more details download the Friends of Wairoa Stream newsletter (see link at end of this article).

Volunteer labour comes from various community activities.

There are fortnightly working bees held by Friends of Wairoa Stream.
Public planting days during each winter.
The involvement of Kerikeri High & Primary Schools with planting and weed busting days by students.
Specific projects such as the building of the bridges along the stream that have been primarily Rotary Kerikeri efforts

This is an example of the community driving the development of a community recreational asset with the side benefits of tourism, helping to mitigate carbon emissions and improve water quality in the stream.

We are attempting to record the progress of the project using Google mapping. You can view this at the following link (the map can be enlarged by clicking on the top right hand symbol).