The reserve’s origins began with considerable pioneering lobbying by Sir Charles Fleming, an eminent scientist and Waikanae resident, throughout the 1980s.
Sir Charles enjoyed the area, but was concerned about the encroachment of development and the sprawling scrub, not to mention pests.
Twenty hectares of sand dunes by the river mouth were set aside as a nature reserve in 1987, and that eventually expanded when the Department of Conservation (DoC) was formed to some 75 hectares. It was gazetted as a scientific reserve in 1994, with its own regulations to protect some rare plants only found in estuarial waters.
A white-winged black tern and a white-fronted tern. Photo / Roger Smith
A recent addition of five hectares, kindly donated by a private landowner, has pushed the reserve’s coverage area to 80 hectares.
The Waikanae Estuary Care Group, which formed in 2004, has about 100 members who are involved in strategic planning, land development, management of resources, growing, planting and weeding of native plants, pest management, weed management, signage, education, scientific studies and more.
Two years after it formed, the group received set-up grants from Greater Wellington Regional Council for three years of clearing and planting.
The group, which is a registered charity, follows an ecological plan written by native plant ecologist Isobel Gabites in 2010.
It provides about 4000 hours of volunteer labour every year and raises all its funding for the entire operation.
The group, which has a nursery, has produced and planted over 70,000 native plants, of some 50 species to date.
It has a signed agreement with DoC, from 2019, to take care of most areas of operation in the reserve.
It was one of the first groups in the lower North Island to sign such a community agreement with the department.
By 2020, the group helped DoC start the Waikanae Jobs for Nature programme with a paid group to start clearing large areas of gorse and blackberry for future planting.
The main track entrance is located off northern Manly St, Paraparaumu Beach, or via a side road at the junction of Otaihanga Rd and Makora Rd, Otaihanga.
