WEEDING: Sara Treadgold (left), DOC worker, and Lyneke Onderwater, a volunteer, remove introduced pink ragwort. PHOTO/LAUREL STOWELL 310815WCLAU02
The Conservation Department is looking for volunteers to help get 220ha of Waitotara coastal dunes closer to a natural state, ranger Sara Treadgold says.
Conservation Department (DOC) staff and volunteers were there last week to walk the foredunes and weed out the daisy-like pink ragwort.
The Tapuarau Lagoon Conservation Area
is on the west side of the Waitotara River mouth. Its mix of shifting dunes and wetland could provide a perfect environment for rare native plants such as Sebaea and Pimelea.
Instead some dunes have been planted with introduced marram grass to keep them in place, and pink ragwort, a South African weed, is trying to take over.
"We want the foredunes to be put back into a more natural system where the sand can move," Miss Treadgold said. "A lot of our threatened species grow in those areas."
