Walkers urged to stay on tracks

Visitors to the Leigh Scenic Reserve and Little Omaha Cove are being urged to use only authorised walking tracks and not the illegal access routes that have been cut through vegetation.

A section of the cove walkway was damaged during the 2022 weather events, and the Department of Conservation (DOC) found that multiple landslips and a high risk of coastal erosion made it unfeasible to repair the damaged section of track.

District operations manager Bec Rush says access to Little Omaha Cove was partially restored thanks to support from the community. This involved restoring access to Little Omaha Cove using an old track from the end of Mount Pleasant Drive, which crosses private land.

“However, elsewhere in Leigh Scenic Reserve, someone has illegally cut vegetation to access a different part of the reserve,” Rush says. “This has damaged the reserve’s vegetation and leads people to walk over the roots of a large kauri tree, potentially spreading kauri dieback and trampling the roots.

“This route does not lead to Little Omaha Cove, only to a section of track already legitimately accessible using an existing section of the Omaha Cove walkway.”

The department reminded the public that damaging reserve vegetation can result in fines of up to $100,000 or imprisonment. DOC has asked anyone witnessing illegal activity to report it immediately.

Dogs are also prohibited from the reserve to help protect native wildlife including kororā/little penguins, which nest in the area.