KEY POINTS:
Thousands of seeds are being collected by hand from native plants and shrubs at Cape Reinga in a major projectto restore an environment of natural vegetation to the local landscape.
A team of seed collectors headed by Te Hapua couple Toni and Toka Maka have been contracted to
gather more than 175,000 seeds for the Department of Conservation and more than 120,000 for roading agency Transit NZ.
Transit is at present undertaking a staged $14 million job to seal the last 19km of State Highway 1 between Waitiki Landing and the cape while DoC is engaged in a project to upgrade visitor facilities at the Te Rerenga Wairua tourist magnet site.
Improvements include new parking areas, eco-friendly toilets, extensive replanting and new walking tracks which are expected to be completedby 2010.
The seed collectors face a back-breaking and weather-dependent job.
"We make plans and the next day we have to change them because it's the seeds that tell us what we're doing on any given day," Toni Maka says.
Smaller seeds are the most labour intensive to collect, with species like hebe and kanuka having lots of tiny seeds like dust, she says.
A 20-litre collection of manuka took three weeks to gather and clean compared with six days taken to collect an equivalent quantity of flax seeds, which are bigger so are easier to gather.
Ms Maka, who maintains a nearby campground, checks on plants to see if seeds are ready to be picked.
"Most people can't wait for a plant to flower but I think the best part is finding a plant with a seed," she says.
"One week there's nothing and then suddenly overnight it changes."
Collected seeds are taken to the Makas' shed, where they are dried, sifted and cleaned.
If they know 44,000 coprosma rhamanoides are needed, collectors know 22,000 must be gathered because there are two seeds in each pod.
Seeds are collected mainly from January to April, cleaned and delivered to local Ngataki nursery Te Manawa o Ngati Kuri for plant propagation.
So far, more than 80,000 plants have been successfully propagated, including 17 targeted native species.
Nursery manager Wayne Petera says the aim is to collect as many seeds as possible and have plants well established before winter.
Te Rerenga Wairua and the wider Te Paki area is known internationally as ecologically important because some plants, such as the rare native orchid and Bartlett's rata, are found only inthe area.
Mr Petera says there are only 31 Bartlett's rata growing in the wild, in two locations near the area.
That number will increase with 35 more of the species now being grown at the nursery.