Paekākāriki residents who stand on the station waiting for a train into town, often gaze up at the station escarpment, the steep hillside across the road. This land was formally part of Perkins farm. Many years ago it was cleared of most of the coastal forest that once covered all of our hills. Now it is no longer farmed, being part of the land bought in 2012 under the Public Works Act in order to build the Transmission Gully expressway.
Careful observers might notice some trees dying on the escarpment: wattles that have been spreading up the hillside. Weed specialists, working on behalf of the local volunteer group Ngā Uruora, have been controlling these trees. Greater Wellington Regional Council has funded this work.
Wattles are just one of the many weed plants threatening to spread up the escarpment’s face. But even more worrying is the potential for these weeds to spread further across the whole of Perkins farm.
The most problematic weeds include agapanthus, Japanese honeysuckle, pampas, climbing asparagus, blackberry and, the recently discovered liquorice plant. Other weed plants threatening to spread include tradescantia, wilding pines, English and German ivy, boxthorn, and boneseed.
Ngā Uruora has a formal agreement with NZTA, the farm’s current owners, to undertake weed and pest control across much of the property. As well the weed work, we hold regular working bees on the farm, especially up the Fly by Wire gully. Without these working bees, the farm’s weeds would be far worse.
But it’s not all hard work and bad news. Just as weeds are being spread by the wind and birds, so too are the native plants that once covered these hills. With possum control allowing the once common kohekohe to flower and set seed, we are now seeing forests of seedlings in some areas. Other forest trees are also spreading, helped by some planting of species once common but now rare, including totara, milk trees, miro, tawa, maire and mātai.
For more information about the work of Ngā Uruora, visit our website. This includes information about our regular working bees.
