Seed collecting at a back swamp, Ngaruawahia

I accompanied Wayne Bennett from Forest Flora Nurseries to a native back swamp on private land on the Te Puroa Road which is off the Waingaro Road just out of Ngaruawahia.
This was an excellent example of a native flora back swamp with mature Kahikatea and Pukatea with their buttress roots dominating the canopy. The understory had an interesting variety of native flora flushing in the very wet conditions. The whole eco system looked so healthy and is what I imagine our gully floor to look like in 50 to 70 years.
Even this bush remnant has pressure from exotic weeds. Notice the grey willow branch in the top left of the photo!