Project Description:

THE STREAM AND LAGOON

The Waipuka Stream drains a steep coastal Hawkes Bay gully system near Waimarama, before forming a lagoon at Ocean Beach and entering the ocean.

The lagoon offers a calm and warm spot for children to swim and is a popular spot for families in the summer.

Unfortunately, water quality in the stream and the lagoon is poor. They are often closed for swimming due to high e coli levels. The excessive nutrients and sediment entering the stream are also encouraging an overgrowth of weeds.

In recent years, over 40 hectares of the gully upstream of the lagoon has been retired from grazing. This is reducing erosion and faecal contamination in the stream. Control of feral geese in the catchment has further decreased e coli levels.

OUR PROJECT

This project is the latest step in the restoration of the Waipuka gully system and the ongoing improvement of water quality in the stream.

It is located on the estate of the late Pukepuke Tangiora, a well-known conservationist and visionary of her time.

The project is just upstream of the lagoon. It has been identified by Hawkes Bay Regional Council contractors as an inanga (white bait) spawning site.

Currently unfenced, there is nothing stopping stock from trampling the eggs that will grow into whitebait or destroying the grasses necessary for inanga to lay their eggs. The true left bank of the stream is a steep, slipping face which is contributing sediment and nutrients to the stream.

With the support of Department of Conservation and the Hawkes Bay Regional Council, the Pukepuke Tangiora Estate Trust has now fenced and permanently retired the site from grazing.

Seeds of hardy pioneer plant species such as mānuka, pohuehue, harakeke, coastal tree daisy, karamu, and Ralph’s karo have been spread in places too steep or lacking in topsoil to plant.

We’re crowdfunding to help fund plants for the remainder of the site.

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT

We hope you will support our project by donating today! A metre of restoration is $33, but you can donate ANY amount to this project.

This summer we will prep the site for planting by controlling pest weeds like blackberry. We will plant 3,500 native plants and trees during the 2018 planting season.

The plants will be grown by Waimarama Native Plant Nursery, using locally sourced seed. So your support helps local business too!

Hawkes Bay Regional Council will continue to monitor inanga spawning at this site. We look forward to providing you with updates on the planting and impacts on inanga spawning.

CAPE TO CITY

The project site is within the 26,000 hectare footprint of the Cape to City Project. This ecological restoration project receives large scale pest control. Over 200,000 native plants have been planted in the last three years to restore native habitat.

Our project to protect inanga habitat in Waipuka stream is an important contributor to the Cape to City work.