Conservation Comment: A feast for nature lovers

Esther Williams and Auckland Botanical Society members examine some of the botanical delights on the forest floor at Piropiro, Pureora Forest Park.

Pureora Forest Park, between Taupo and Te Kuiti, is a favourite places to visit because of its very high conservation value. Yet many Kiwis have never heard of it.

The area had once been an amalgamation of seven State Forests; native trees were logged from 1946 to the late '70s for state housing projects.

My first car journey through the Park, between State Highway 32 and SH 30, allowed me to walk in the bush for hours and hear the haunting call of a lone kōkako for the first time. Fabulous.

In Easter 2009, I led a trip for the North Shore branch of Kiwi Conservation Club (the children's arm of Forest & Bird). We climbed the Forest Viewing Tower near where protesters had sat in the ancient podocarps to prevent further tree felling. They all deserve accolades.

Their action led to the government imposing a moratorium on logging operations in 1978, and also the establishment of the New Zealand Native Forests Restoration Trust and Pureora Forest Park.

Our KCC families discussed the importance of protesting about injustices against nature to protect native bush and wildlife for future generations to enjoy. We traversed Mt Pureora (1165 m), identifying bird calls along the way. We found the buried forest from the Hatepe (Taupo) eruption in 180AD and marvelled at relics from the logging days.

The Park has long been a popular tramping and hunting area, and a number of camping grounds cater for families and other independent travellers who like to get away from it all.

Managed by the Department of Conservation, the Park has an abundance of pōpokotea (whitehead), miromiro (tomtit), kaka, korimako (bellbird), toutouwai (North Island robin) and kererū within the mixed podocarp/ broadleaf forest. In the northern part of the Park, thanks to predator control, kōkako are flourishing, with 465 breeding pairs at the last count (2016). Their status is now 'at risk, recovering'.

There are ten ecological areas, each with special botanical features, including endangered plants, within the 78,000-hectare protected area.

In 2013, the 85-kilometre Timber Trail (part of Ngā Haerenga, the NZ Cycleway) was fully opened with 35 bridges. About half of the trail is on an old bush tramway, including a spiral and a tunnel. It is a popular two-day ride.

The trail cost about $5.5 million to build. It was one of seven 'Quick Start' Projects announced in 2009, which were publicised as promoting economic growth and offering employment opportunities for people wanting to learn track-building skills.

Thanks to the national cycleway project, some investors built an eco-lodge, off the grid, at Piropiro in the middle of the Timber Trail. Timber Trail Lodge (TTL) is reached via the Waimiha district, part of the Whanganui River catchment.

The lodge, with licensed restaurant, opened in April this year. Since then, an extra wing has been added, offering accommodation for 45.

Last month, Esther Williams and I joined Auckland Botanical Society members and others at TTL for three days of botanising and bird identification nearby. We marvelled at the huge Northern rata, hinau, tawa and kōtukutuku beside a neat new loop track behind TTL.

We climbed Ketemaringi (939 m), spotting the biggest Griselinia littoralis we'd ever seen. We botanised and weeded along the Timber Trail to the Maramataha Suspension Bridge (141 m long and 53 m high). Heavenly days.

Koekoeā (long-tailed cuckoo) and pīpīwharauroa (shining cuckoo) were heard calling each day. A total of 34 bird species was noted, including whio (blue duck) which inhabit the Maramataha River and many other streams in the Park. We were overjoyed to see a couple.
If you love nature, do put Pureora Forest Park on your bucket list.

Margi Keys, the coordinator of Conservation Comment, has lived in Whanganui since June 2015. She is a member of Sustainable Whanganui, Tongariro Natural History Society, Forest & Bird and the Green Party.