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A community vision to restore the former Ti Point forestry and landfill site as a reserve has taken a small, but significant step forward, with the establishment of animal pest control on-site.
The Ti Point Forest Project has joined forces with The Forest Bridge Trust and Pest Free Leigh to place and monitor traps for rats, stoats and possums on the Auckland Council land, on the corner of Leigh and Ti Point Roads.
The site is currently the subject of a three-year council pest plant management programme to get rid of wilding pines, pampas, gorse and jasmine that took over the site after forestry trees were harvested six years ago.
Extensive aerial herbicide spraying over the past two years will be followed up by a ground control team manually spraying any remaining or re-establishing pest plants next month, and then again in around six months’ time.
While this work has cleared all the weeds, it has left the land looking barren and Ti Point Forest Project members are keen to progress their hopes to restore the land with native plantings.
Founder member Linus Wood said being able to get on the land to trap pests was progress and a good start.
“It’s very positive that we can at last start to control pests on the land, that’s very good news,” he said.
“We still really would like to see a plan from council to replant the land – it would be nice to understand what the end goal is. Volunteers would be fully behind it and it would be really good to start.”
A spokesperson for Eke Panuku, council’s property management arm, said decisions about the future of Ti Point Forest ultimately sat with council.
“Due to its former use as a landfill, there are land stabilisation and contamination issues that Auckland Council’s closed landfill team is investigating. As the work involves monitoring over time, this is still ongoing,” they said.
“Council is also investigating if this site needs to be retained as open space or reserve land.”
Ti Point Forest Project wants to create a native and cultural reserve that will stop the spread of invasive weed species, improve the water quality of Whangateau Harbour and preserve an ancient Pa site for the benefit of the local community.
