Restoring Donner's Bush

WAIMATA PLANTING: A group of home-schooled children and EIT students have been part of the team replanting the bush. Those at the planting day were primary school-aged students who are part of the homeschool community group.

RESTORING a large degraded river like the Waimata is a bit like eating an elephant — it’s an overwhelmingly huge task best tackled one piece at a time by as many people as possible.

With a portion of Donner’s Bush scenic reserve newly fenced and replanted, another fraction of the huge riparian area is regenerating, through a team effort by EIT Rural Studies students and staff in cooperation with the Department of Conservation (DoC), and the Longbush Trust’s Jeremy and Anne Salmond.

Donner’s Bush is a thin strip of land between Riverside Road and the Waimata River near Caves Road and the 111ha Longbush Reserve, where the Salmonds began their major pest control programme 13 years ago. Now that rats, cats, stoats goats, possums, weeds and hedgehogs are under control at Longbush, there is amazing diversity in the area with over 50 species of native trees as well as birds, insects and reptiles. There are about 10 QEII covenants in the Waimata catchment covering a total of almost 300 hectares. As more landowners join the conservation effort it is hoped the Waimata River will grow steadily healthier.

The project to restore Donner’s Bush began when Dame Anne Salmond contacted DoC and urged them to do some restoration work at the scenic reserve to support the work at nearby Longbush Reserve. As the site was not currently funded by DoC’s local biodiversity programme it was necessary to find another way to move forward with the project, says DoC community engagement supervisor Charles Barrie.

EIT's involvement“I was aware of the history that EIT had with Longbush so I contacted (EIT Head of School for Primary Industries) Steve Phelps and said we wanted to put some energy into Donner’s Bush as a contribution towards the larger picture restoration of the Waimata, and he was really enhusiastic. We are aware of the need to build capacity for conservation work in the region and EIT are right behind that vision and already showing a lot of leadership in that space,” Mr Barrie says.

“Through a number of conversations between DoC, EIT, Longbush and the QE2 Trust, the idea developed to fence off a small ‘micro-reserve’ around one of the main stands of remnant bush within Donner’s Bush.”

Although there was not much undergrowth in Donner’s Bush initially, with the fence constructed and extra trees planted it should regenerate quickly, says Mr Barrie.

“There are beautiful canopy trees — titoki, kohekohe. We plan to continue to work with the EIT Primary Industries team to bite off chunks each year that can be fenced off over the course of a semester, and then work with the EIT horticulture team to improve the biodiversity through propagating plants for return to the reserve.

“The ultimate vision is to work together with mana whenua, local land owners, Gisborne District Council and the QE2 Trust to build a master plan for the whole riparian edge of riverside road including both restoration and recreation opportunities. We hope that this can form part of a bigger picture restoration vision for the Waimata.”

Learning for studentsMr Phelps says for EIT students the project provided some great learning experiences.

“They had to learn the practical skills anyway and this gave them a more challenging environment because it wasn’t flat, it was real life. They had a purpose, and they were out in the rain and mud like they would have to be normally,” Mr Phelps says.

The plan is incredibly ambitious and exciting.

“The aim is to change the purity of the Waimata River, so people are able to swim in it without being affected by the water quality.”

Mr Barrie says a goal like this can only be achieved with a committed team, and the Donner’s Bush partnership has the makings of a great platform to build on.

“As we move forward with our conservation vision we are committed to doing it in effective partnerships with mana whenua and landowners rather than just ploughing on with what we think is best.

“The Waimata is a really key river for Gisborne with its landscape, history, ecology and agriculture. The restoration of a river like this is a massive multi-stakeholder enterprise, so we are keen to build the right sort of foundation for the work we do so we future-proof our work. It takes time.”