Habitat restoration

NZ Lower NI Biosecurity Institute Field visit to Maraetōtara Stream (Photo by Natalie de Burgh)

Restoring natural habitats and waterways is a vision of Predator Free Hawke’s Bay. Our goal is to improve land and water quality and establish habitat connections between nature reserves, farms and urban backyards so that our native species can safely return. This is mostly done in partnership with other programmes and community groups such as:

• Million Metres Streams Project
• HBRC Catchment Management Team
• Mānuka Farming
• Trees for Bees
• Department of Conservation
• DoC Community Fund recipients
• Trees that Count
• Queen Elizabeth II National Trust
• Maraetōtara Tree Trust

Check out what's been accomplished so far:

• The Maraetōtara River, which runs through the heart of the Cape to City footprint, is a major focus of our habitat restoration work. We've partnered with the Maraetōtara Tree Trust to return over 250,000 native plants to the riverbanks over the course of the project.
• Community plantings with Hohepa Homes and the Clifton County Cricket Club have helped restore native species to wetlands and streams in the area, as well as provide habitat corridors for birds to spread outwards from Cape Sanctuary.
• Waimārama Marae has begun planting natives such as flaxes and kōwhai along the Waingōngoro River, which was returned to its original course next to the marae in late 2015. These plantings will benefit the whitebait populations that spawn along this section of the river.