Kahikatea Seedlings

Potted up 27 Kahikatea Seedling from under a Kahikatea tree in the gully behind Hukanui School. These are eco-sourced.

A paper by Clark & McQueen

This link is a pdf file of a paper by Bruce Clarkson & Joanna McQueen titled Ecological Restoration in Hamilton City, that was present to the 16th International conference, Society for Ecological Restoration, August 24 – 26, 2004.
This paper gives an excellent overview and back ground of gully restoration in Hamilton.

Pest control in the gully

After a discussion about pest control with the Dept of Conservation a summary is as follows:
· Start control July to reduce rodent numbers by Oct 1st bird breeding season.
· Nov there is usually a number increase spike
• Survey the area into a maximum size of a 75metre square grid. One bate station per grid.
· DOC can supply a spread sheet to record a track monitoring system. See photo.
· Recommended “mini-philproof” bate stations. http://www.philproof.co.nz/gen_showproduct.php?cat=3
· This would cover possum & rat poisoning from the same station
· Recommended to use the second general coagulant poison brodifacoum.
· brodifacoum is marketed under several names, one is Pestoff , http://www.pestoff.co.nz/products.htm
· Poison bates available at rural retailers. Wrightson or RD1
The photo is of a track monitoring system. The black is a non drying ink. The brown is peanut butter. The blue/green is poison bate. The animal walks on the ink and leaves it’s foot prints on the white board.

Hukanui School Gully Restoration & Eco Class Room

I had a guided tour of the gully at the back of Hukanui School that they have been clearing and replanting with eco sourced native plants for over 10 years. They grow their own seedlings in a specially constructed nursery on the school grounds. Other plants are supplied by Hamilton City Council. The gully is used by the school children as a recreation wildness area as well as the restoration as a resource for school projects.

I was shown through the eco class room. Now this was impressive. It has been designed as a teaching resource as well as being used as a class room so there are a number of inbuilt monitoring devices to help children doing their environmental projects.

Time to make tracks!

After spending a day at Maungatautari Mountain slashing tracks through black berry I have got all enthused about getting an assess track through our gully system. I have bought a slasher through trademe. It is the heavy bladed type. I noted that these types of slashers can be used as an axe cutting through quite thick tree branches. The lighter blade variety can only be used on vines.

Day out with Conservation Volunteers - Maungatautari

I went with five others to cut tracks through black berry so sprayers could get in on the Western edge of the Mountain. Had a great day. It was my first trip to Maungatautari. For those that do not know, this mountain has had a pest proof fence built around it and all the pests removed.

http://www.maungatrust.org/. One of the interests of the day was clearing a service track around a patch of Astelia grandis. This is a flax like lily that grows 2 metre high and, unlike flax, is palletable to cattle. This has caused it to become quite rare in the Waikato although I understand it is quite easy to propogate from seed. I took several seed heads for this purpose. Photo attached.

Gully Restoration Project

Gully Restoration Project

I am interested in forming a group, to restore a local gully back to the original flora and fauna typical of Waikato gullies in pre European times. This project has the full support of Hamilton City Council.
This is an ideal “community based” project. It requires a variety of skills, and could be undertaken by people from all age groups from teenagers through to retirees. If you would like to be involved in setting up this group, please contact Rex Bushell on 854-0973 or reply on this blog.

The gully I have in mind is the upperMangaiti park gully that runs behind St James Drive, Rototuna, Hamilton, New Zealand.
There are two parts to this gully system:

(i) Narrow gully floors
Land form: *Colluvium, rhyolitic sands(volcanic), silt and gravel + organic, poorly drained, flat
(*Colluvium is sediment that has moved downhill to the bottom of the slope without the help of running water in streams. Gravity, in the form of soil creep, and sheet wash during rain storms are the predominant agents.)

Historic vegetation type: Kahikatea – pukatea – swamp marie forest
The poorly drained gully floor and their associated backswamps were dominated by Kahikatea, pukatea, swamp marie, cabbage tree and pokaka. Understorey and ground cover species include mapou, fuchsia, lancewood, pate, Coprosma rotundifolia, Cyathea cunninghamii, Astelia grandis, kiekie and supplejack. This type is represented in a small (1ha) remnant immediately east of Hammond Park, alongside the Waikato River, which is described in detail in de Lange (1996)

(ii) Terrace *scarps and gully sides
*scarps, a steep slope in land form.
Landform: Hinuera formation, rhyolitic (volcanic)sand and gravel, well drained, steep
Historic vegetation type: Totara – matai – kowia forest
The scarps and steep gully side slopes were covered with forest dominated by totara, matai and kowhai. Kanuka and kamahi were also present, and mahoe occurred in more poorly drained sites. The understorey included shrubs of mapou, mingimingi, and Rhabdothamnus solandri , and the ground was covered in a variety of ferns such as Blechnum chambersii, Doodia media, and Polystichum richardii. Slopes too steep for forest had herbaceous or shrubby vegetation including Machaerina sinclairii wharariki, rangiora, koromiko, and heketara.

Gullies (Hamilton, NZ)

(i) Narrow gully floors
Land form: *Colluvium, rhyolitic sands(volcanic), silt and gravel + organic, poorly drained, flat
(*Colluvium is sediment that has moved downhill to the bottom of the slope without the help of running water in streams. Gravity, in the form of soil creep, and sheet wash during rain storms are the predominant agents.)

Historic vegetation type: Kahikatea – pukatea – swamp marie forest
The poorly drained gully floor and their associated backswamps were dominated by Kahikatea, pukatea, swamp marie, cabbage tree and pokaka. Understorey and ground cover species include mapou, fuchsia, lancewood, pate, Coprosma rotundifolia, Cyathea cunninghamii, Astelia grandis, kiekie and supplejack. This type is represented in a small (1ha) remnant immediately east of Hammond Park, alongside the Waikato River, which is described in detail in de Lange (1996)
Target plants for the Kirikiriroa / St James Drive Gully restoration planting - gully floor