Volunteers uproot rampant weed from Whanganui reserve

Barbara Francis (left) and Margie Campbell work together to pull out a large specimen of the coastal weed pink ragwort. Photo / Laurel Stowell

It was a cruisy day weeding the wide open Whitiau Scientific Reserve for 14 volunteers and two Conservation Department staff.

The Conservation Week volunteers were offered bountiful morning and afternoon teas, were told about the reserve and had a chance to walk through both upland and dune hollow areas.

The L-shaped 243ha reserve stretches from the Whangaehu River mouth northward to South Beach and Whanganui Airport. It is a rare area of duneland that has been relatively unchanged for centuries, community ranger Scotty Moore said.

Since the 1990s it has been overrun with South African weed Senecio glastifolius, nicknamed pink ragwort. The plants could easily take over if not weeded out.

On Wednesday volunteers pulled plants and left them upended to dry and die. Pink ragwort can grow to 1.5m over four or five years, and it took a spade or grubber to loosen some.

Spraying would destroy the plants they grow among, and some of those plants are precious, Moore said. The department does spray gorse and acacia in the reserve, using a helicopter.

It is looking to do some predator trapping too, and Ngāti Apa is already doing some at 20ha Motukaraka, near the gas pumping station.

The possible coastal route for the Te Araroa trail runs through the reserve. Two bridges and permission from farmers will be needed before trail walkers can take that route rather than using State Highway 3 as they do now.

Te Araroa Whanganui Trust member Brian Doughty is working with farmers on getting access for walkers to use the coast.

Whitiau Scientific Reserve will need ongoing weeding, Moore said, and covering it by hand every year is a challenge.

It's one he will not be facing. He will soon leave the department, after four years, for a job in freshwater with Horizons Regional Council.