Sign In / Register
The O Mahurangi Penlink team will undertake a planting programme at Shakespear Regional Park next year, to offset the vegetation being lost on the route.
This follows the Waterfall Gully project announced for Okoromai Bay next year (Hibiscus Matters, December 2), which is an ecological offset for the Milldale development where waterways on the farmland were culverted.
As the landowner, Auckland Council has given permission and operational requirements for both projects, but the project teams are responsible for regulatory compliance. In this case, that is the O Mahurangi Penlink team who are leading and funding the 38-hectare, winter revegetation project.
Council’s regional parks manager Scott De Silva said large areas of pasture at Shakespear would be converted into new forest and wetland habitats, creating vital connections for wildlife across the open sanctuary.
“The reduction in pastureland will result in a decrease in grazing sheep, with the flock size dropping from 416 ewes to around 300. It will allow for habitat gains, with native birds like the bellbird, tūī, kererū, and kiwi benefitting from the new forest corridors, while wetlands will support native fish and species such as the endangered banded rail,” De Silva said.
Shakespear senior ranger Matt Maitland said the project would include 30 hectares of grazing land that was not part of the original revegetation plan. He said volunteers together with the Shakespear Open Sanctuary Society (SOSSI) normally plant two hectares a year. With the O Mahurangi offset project happening next year, the parks team and SOSSI volunteers will alter their work programme.
“Apart from the revegetation work, SOSSI also partners with the park on wildlife monitoring and pest trapping. Our focus will switch to this, as well as threatened plants and species thickening,” Maitland said.
Though some ewes won’t return next year, Maitland says people don’t need to be concerned about not seeing lambs or about a loss of views once the project is completed. There may even be additional benefits with walking tracks planned for the newly revegetated area.
The project is part of a larger effort to offset ecological losses from infrastructure developments. An ecological offset involves mitigating the loss of native habitat due to development by creating or enhancing habitats elsewhere.It is required by the resource management consent process to balance the loss of forest, wetland, and riparian areas.
Park visitors can expect to see work on fences and areas being sprayed in preparation to be planted next winter.
