Restoring the Wairua (spirit or soul) of the Tangatapu wetland. This is a degraded Kahikatea swamp forest at the beginning of the DOC walkway to the Whangamumu whaling station on Rawhiti Peninsular in the Eastern Bay of Islands. We are returning this swamp forest that once cloaked this valley tree by tree. It is part of a series of restoration and weed and pest control projects which together are restoring the wairua of the Eastern Bay.

 Tangatapu Wetland Restoration 2014 – Our Vision Begins to Take Shape

This is the third year of planting to restore the ecology of the Tangatapu wetland at the start of the
Whangamumu walking track on Rawhiti
(Cape Brett) Peninsular
in the Eastern
Bay of Islands.

Twenty eight enthusiastic people attended our World Wetlands Day celebration on Sunday the 9th of February. The guided walk took the group through some of the habitats and ecosystems of the Eastern Bay of Islands, showing them the creatures that live within them and how these systems are inter-related.

It is exciting to see that the 4000 natives planted in June have flourished over the rainy winter months, apart from a few losses when the wetland flooded in July and during the spring drought. Weed control has been the main job throughout spring and will continue during summer, requiring many volunteer hours to make sure the plants don't get crowded out.

A restoration planning meeting was held in early December to finalised details for the development of the Tangatapu Management plan, focussing on pond formation and creating the ideal Pateke habitat to attract these endangered birds back.

Our Tangatapu Wetland Restoration is part of the "Whaler's Walk" – No.9 out of twenty-two walks organised for the Bay of Islands Walking Weekend in October 2013.

Walks depart from Russell and include a variety of scenic, cultural and historic aspects of the Bay of Islands.

3,600 native trees were planted on Saturday 8th June by seventy enthusiastic volunteers at the Tangatapu Wetland Restoration. Volunteers came from all around and as far away as Kerikeri.

With the hill area successfully planted last year, the focus this year was on the lower wetland area.

With new support from sponsors and on-going support from the landowners, Vic and Barb Turner, the restoration is picking up momentum and becoming a very exciting project.

Successful funding applications and a new manager secure a positive wetland future at Tangatapu. Following a successful DOC BioCondition funding application, to be complemented by NRC funding, the Tangatapu Wetland Restoration project will be able to move forward.

On 30 June about 12 people from the local community and eastern Bay of Islands came together to plant the slip above the Tangatapu wetland.

Preventing further sediment flowing down the slip during rains is an important aspect of protecting the wetland. Participants had a fun and happy day putting about 400 plants in the ground, and enjoyed a social event afterwards.

Celebrating Tane and Tangaroa as a community: Local environmental protection groups and the Eastern Bay of Islands community enjoyed a milestone day recently, in which schools, locals and tangata whenua gathered in Rawhiti to celebrate the tamiriki of both Tane and Tangaroa. The day opened with planting at Tangatapu Wetland, signifying the launch of the wetland restoration programme led by Living Waters and supported by the Eastern Bay of Islands Preservation Society.

Living waters met in January at the Tangatapu wetland on Rawhiti Road to Liaise with QEII National Trust regarding an Open Space covenant in perpetuity for this important ecological site

Attending were Vic and Barbara Turner (land owners), John booth, Ruth Marsh, Bob Bingham, and Greg  Blunden Northland’s QEII representative.

The site has a gradation of ecological habitats from sheltered salt marsh, to freshwater wetland, regenerating forest and open ocean coast. The wetland is one of the most significant wetlands for the Regional Council in Northland. Greg believes it will be equally as important for QEII.