Kaipatiki Creek Restoration site
[UPDATE in 2019: We have recently learned (early 2019) that about half the Kaipatiki Creek Restoration site of 1997-00, from roadside to stream in the upstream half of the site, has not been legally classified as a Reserve, though it is recognised as a Significant Ecological Area.
Most of the observations throughout the restoration site have been given the Field "Kaipatiki Creek restoration site", with the Value either "Reserve" or a link to this post. Thus it should now be noted that many of these observations are actually not within a legal Reserve, but roadside "owned" by Auckland Transport. We understand the "roadside" area has had no ecological survey or maintenance since road reconstruction in 1999, but in the future the streambanks adjoining Witheford Reserve are to be managed (ie animal and plant pest control) by Auckland Council through the Ecocontract for Witheford Reserve.
We understand there are still some areas of streambank or coastal cliff without Ecocontract further downstream, adjoining the Kaipatiki Esplanade Reserve, where honeysuckle has invaded the mangrove saltmarsh and Alligator weed is spreading on the esutarine shore, though limited by salinity in the estuary.]
The locality "Kaipatiki Creek Restoration site", as used in our observations, denotes the area mapped at the bottom of this page
The site is approx 2km long and from about 50-100m wide, of truly wild coastal lowland forest, the natives competing on the whole successfully with the pines, wattles and tree privets and woolly nightshades in its canopy, assisted by some ringbarking and felling of the weed trees 20-30 years ago.
The regenerating forest and the weeds shepherd the Northwestern arm of the Kaipatiki Creek through a long narrow stream gully beneath steep hills covered in roads and houses, through saltmarsh beneath steep cliffs, to join the Eastern arm of the Kaipatiki Stream as it emerges from the Eskdale Forest.
This estuary joins a number of others in one of the winding tendrils of the upper Waitemata Harbour. Aerial photos show the extensive network of stream estuaries meeting in open upper harbour encompassing Beachhaven, Bayview, Upper Harbour Drive , Herald Island and Pt Chevalier coastlines.
Lancewood was the first species to arise after existing vegetation was burned off sometime about the 1950s, according to a local resident in 1998. Council aerial photos show the whole site, and several miles around, almost entirely bare in 1963 (see googleearth's "History" tab). The only vegetation was in the stream gully itself, and the gullies of its tributaries running down the bare hills to the stream. Two gullies of note are in the upstream area (Zones B and C) and one is further downstream in Zone Ld, where a waterfall emerges into the deep shade of karaka, taraire, kowhai, nikau and kohekohe, accompanied by native passionflower (kohia), Parsonsia heterophylla (kaihua), supplejack (karaeo) and native clematis (puawhananga).
It is not known what type of vegetation was burnt off, but presumably "scrub" after logging and farming. The existence of streamside vegetation in the 1963 photos, combined with the typical shade, shelter and perpetual dampness in gullies, are probably responsible for the relative diversity of the streamside vegetation observed both in 1997 and currently.
Observations of the site are grouped geographically in approximately 60 sub-sites or "Zones", roughly defined in 1997-99 to enable filing of photos in geographical proximity to illustrate the distinct character of each area and its visible change over time.
The entire site was seen by specialists and restoration volunteers in 1997-99 as a whole, living environment, with distinct but interconnected ecologies of coastal cliff, saltmarsh, coastal and streamside forest, on the banks of a Waitemata sandstone sedimentary stream fluid and everchanging in the upstream area, deeply and delicately carved further downstream, broadening and slowing into tidal saltmarsh before the estuary.
The nature and potential of its various habitats was pointed out to volunteers by enthusiasts, technical officers and academics, despite much of the streamside at that time being grass, herb, shrub and tree weeds, with a hundred years of inorganic refuse both in and around the stream.
A few local residents shared memories of swimming, whitebaiting, or catching freshwater crayfish in a large pool at the bottom of Easton Park Parade in the 1970s, but in 1997, the pool had long been piped and a road built over it. The community in general saw the stream and its banks as "a stormwater drain", "rubbish tip", and "eyesore that should be concreted over".
Shortly after the restoration began, it was learned that road construction was planned along the entire downstream half of the stream, culminating in the construction of a road bridge across the estuary, for the creation of a mass transit road accommodating a possible future harbour crossing.
For all the above reasons, the entire current and proposed roadside and stream were included in the restoration project despite the lack of volunteers to undertake it all, establishing, by massive weed and rubbish removal, the natural heritage value and interconnection of habitats throughout the site and with the extensive forest and coastal corridors of the wider Kaipatiki area.
With the encouragement and assistance of Forest and Bird and North Shore City Council, Restoration Project volunteers also submitted successfully to the Resource Consent process, achieving some environmental improvements in the design and construction process and the goodwill and support of Council and contractors, with whom the community group liaised and collaborated throughout road planning and construction.
The 7 days a week manual restoration of streamsides by a community volunteer group was locally and nationally funded and conducted from 1997-2000 or later, guided by advice from professional specialists and amateur experts including a Forest and Bird botanist ecologist (and founding Committee Secretary) Auckland Museum Botany Department, Natural Heritage, Biosecurity, Stormwater, and Water Pollution advisors of Auckland Regional Council Environment, Oratia Native Plant nurseries, and NZ Native Freshwater Fish society volunteers, with ongoing active support and encouragement from the local Parks Officer for North Shore City Council, including plant purchase for the roadside, path construction, arborism as needed and refuse removal by the truckload.
The forest has continued to grow and diversify, the planted trees along the roadedge are now 6-8m high providing almost continuous canopy from roadside to streamside, and there is now established public access to and enjoyment of both the roadside bush path beside the estuary and lower stream, and the "Native Plant Trail" through the forest in the upstream area.
Of particular interest in the current survey of the whole site, where accessible, is the type and degree of wild regeneration both within the forest and among the planted trees, the integration of the planting with the wild regeneration, habitat extension or loss, the continuity of habitat with neighbouring ecologies, the impact of public access to the forest interior and along its planted margin, and any current threats to the health and biodiversity of both wild and planted areas.
Archive Photos:
Photos in Project observations from that period are low-res (138kb!) files created with a Sony Mavica digital camera, which used floppy discs, allowing storage of up to a hundred or so images on one battery charge, compared with the 12-15 image limit of other contemporary digital cameras.
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