The Aorangi Restoration Trust was set up fifteen years ago on the instigation of Martinborough winemaker Clive Paton and others.
The objective of the Trust is to support the Department of Conservation and others to protect and restore the 20,000-hectare Aorangi Forest Park and its surrounding landscape and enable the public to enjoy what it has to offer.
To date the Trust has supported some important projects that helped achieve its aims. These include:
Tonganui corridors project – reforesting marginal farmland surrounding the forest park particularly with the aim of establishing ribbons of native forest providing corridors across the lower valley between the Aorangi and Remutaka forests.
Saving the remnant Matuku/Bittern and Pekapeka/Long Tailed Bat – both are on the critically endangered list – a major predator trapping campaign to eliminate predators across the lower Wairarapa valley
Volunteer predator trapping – the Trust has over 1,000 predator traps which are checked by a dedicated band of volunteers on land surrounding the Park including intensive trapping on the Palliser Bay Coastline. We also support the GWRC traplines in the area. This project has resulted in a visible increase in the number of pipits, shags, caspian terns, oystercatchers, dotterels, pied stilts and red billed gulls on the coast. The Trust’s traps have now removed over 20,000 predators from this landscape.
Project Penguin – the Trust with the help of MITRE 10 Martinborough who supplied materials and the Martinborough Men’s Shed who built the boxes the Trust has placed some 200 penguin boxes on the Palliser Bay coastline in an effort to coax the penguins back into this environment.
Track maintenance – the trust has worked with the Greater Wellington Backcountry Network to clear some 30 km of the old tramping and hunting tracks in the Aorangi Forest Park.
Hiwinui Regional Park – The Trust is working with the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWEC) to set their Hiwinui forestry block on the northern flanks of the Aorangi Forest Park up as a Regional Park, thus enabling people to access and enjoy the native forest in the area.
Annual General Meeting: – the Trust will hold its AGM and Volunteer thank you evening on Sunday the 5th of October, 5pm at Waimeha Camping Village, Cape Palliser Road. There will be a free bus there and back from Martinborough departing 16 Kitchener Steer at 4pm.
