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Efforts to minimise environmental damage due to the construction of the Matakana link road got underway last month.
Auckland Transport (AT) spokesperson Natalie Polley says it was a condition of Auckland Council’s resource consent that AT formulate plans for the protection of lizards and bats, and undertake replacement planting to compensate for vegetation removal within riparian margins.
The Warkworth area is known to be home to several at-risk lizard species, including the forest gecko, Pacific gecko and elegant gecko.
AT is required to relocate native lizards, but so far surveys of the designated route have failed to discover any, despite spotlight searches of potential lizard habitats at night.
AT also undertook monitoring of bats which have a conservation rating of “nationally critical”. The concern is that bats may be killed during the felling of trees, though so far no bats have been found.
Ms Polley says as part of the conservation efforts twice as much vegetation will be planted as is removed.
She says the priority for restoration planting will be in areas that form part of the riparian zones of local streams.
“The restoration planting will be eco-sourced where possible – using seed collected from the Rodney ecological district,” she says.
A range of plants will be used, including karamu, tawa, kahikatea, pūriri, tī kōuka, manuka, māhoe, harakeke and houpara.
When constructed, the four-lane Matakana link road will connect State Highway 1 and Matakana Road. It is hoped the road will be completed by October 2021, prior to the opening of the new Puhoi to Warkworth motorway.
