The Aorangi Restoration Trust (ART) held its Annual General Meeting on the 5th of October at the Waimeha Camping Village.
It is with sadness that the trust recorded the death of Quenten “Joe” Hansen on 29/9/25 at Masterton. Joe was an ART trustee and a long-time supporter of the Aorangi Forest, as well as being the official Park Ranger for over 50 years. RIP Joe.
The trust also passed a vote of thanks to retiring Trustees Jim Law and Renaee Clark. The following Trustees were re-elected. Clive Paton (Patron), Memory Te Whaiti, Jane Riddiford, Tony Didsbury, Philippa Crisp, Rachel Griffiths, Joe Howells (Chair). Hamish Graham, Natasha Robinson and Kurt Portas indicated a willingness to become Trustees in the future.
In summary
The Tonganui Corridors’ purpose is to establish permanent native forest corridors to reconnect the Aorangi and Remutaka forests. 130 hectares have been planted with some 300,000 trees. Funding for 2025 will enable at least another 37,000 trees to be planted. Trees That Count and the Greater Wellington Regional Council have also been significant funders. Many thanks go to the landowners who have allowed some of their land to be retired.
The Moana Predator Control Project
Funded by the Department of Conservation it focuses on preventing the extinction of the matuku-hūrepo/Australasian bittern, the spotless crake, and the long-tailed bat in the Wairarapa Moana.
Trap catches were 116 feral cats, 13 ferrets, 1,490 hedgehogs, 778 mice, 609 possums, 764 rats, 19 stoats and 29 weasels. This is a big step towards a predator free lower valley.
Some of the birds this work has helped include the pohowera /banded dotterel (declining) and the korora/little blue penguin (declining). We are noticing an increase in putangitangi (paradise duck), māpunga (black shags), taranui (caspian terns), pīhoihoi (NZ pipit), tarāpunga (red billed gulls), kāruhiruhi (pied shags), poaka (pied stilts), tōrea pango (variable oystercatchers), kōtuku ngutupapa (royal spoonbills) and matuku moana (white faced heron).
Grants from the Pharazyn Trust, South Wairarapa Rotary and Martinborough Lions have enabled the continuation of this work. Scotty’s Meats kindly provides meat scraps for bait.
Public access to the Aorangi Forest Park
We conducted a full review of public access points to the forest park and provided this to DOC. Some improvements have been noted particularly the signage and tracks at Putangirua carpark. The last 1km of the Haurangi Road has been improved and a public shelter erected at the road end thanks to a pledge of $5,000 from Mate Higginson.
Track Maintenance
Working with the Greater Wellington Backcountry Network (GWBCN – notably with Derek Field) on Track Maintenance we cleared some 35km of tracks including the;
Undulator, the Old Mill Track, the Pig Ridge track and part of the Aorangi Maunga track.
Continuing work will be undertaken on the West Turanganui and Aorangi Maunga tracks thanks to some seed funding from the South Wairarapa District Council.
Many thanks to Te Kawe Te Whaiti and other volunteers for their invaluable help on the
track work.
Housing project
The little blue penguin(korora) housing project helps with the primary causes of decline in the population due to habitat loss, predation, and climate change. Some 200 penguin boxes have been placed on the coast in the undergrowth.
Recently some korora have been spotted at Ocean Beach with signs also evident at the Washpool area. Thanks to Martinborough Mitre 10 for materials, the Men’s Shed for construction of the boxes and the landowners for supporting this work.
Hiwinui Regional Park
In conjunction with the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) we are working on their 1,000-hectare Hiwinui Forest block on the northern flanks of the Aorangi Forest Park to create a Regional Park enabling public access for walking and biking. It will no doubt prove to be a popular destination, 10 minutes’ drive south of Martinborough. The park is due to open in early 2027.
