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Cape Wanbrow restoration plan

Twenty-one hectares of Cape Wanbrow, replanted in native bush, with sculptures of the animals that lived here along the tracks.

The view from high on the Cape over Oamaru harbour: moored yachts on pale blue water, the breakwater and beach, the limestone town beyond, and snow on the ranges at the horizon.
The view from the Cape over the harbour, the town and the ranges beyond.Ma Kōtukutuku – Ancient Cape Wanbrow Trust

01

Native forest

Native forest back across the Cape, and the birds, skinks and insects that come with it — shelter species first, then the trees that feed birds, then the podocarps the forest is named for.

How the planting works →

02

The sculpture trail

Sculptures of animals that lived in North Otago and no longer do, along the tracks people already walk: moa, adzebill, laughing owl, giant swans — each drawn from the fossil record and cut from steel.

The sculptures →

03

Volunteers and partners

A volunteer project on Council land, alongside the groups who have cared for this headland for decades, and in step with Te Rūnanga o Moeraki, whose wāhi tūpuna covers the Cape.

Get involved →

What changes on the Cape

  1. 1

    Plant the bare ground

    About 9.2 hectares of the project area is bare ground waiting for plants — two blocks of it carry no cover at all. Hardy, exposure-tolerant species go in first — kānuka, kōhūhū, tī kōuka, ngaio, lancewood — spaced close enough to shelter what follows. The fleshy-fruited understorey that feeds birds comes next. The slow, long-lived trees the forest is named for go in last, once there is shelter for them: tōtara, mataī and kahikatea.

    Four to five years of shelter before the tall trees go in.

    A steep grassy slope of pale tussocky grass with scattered dark green shrubs and two broad ngaio crowns against a blue sky.
    “Looking up across the proposed planting area towards the Lookout.”Ma Kōtukutuku – Ancient Cape Wanbrow Trust

  2. 2

    Clear the weeds

    African boxthorn, broom and gorse come out of the planting area. Around every young plant the grass is knocked back and kept back for two years, or until the tree reaches two metres.

    Weed removal is a funded output in its own right.

    A close view of rank grass and thorny boxthorn growth.
    “A close up of the weeds that will need to be contended with.”Ma Kōtukutuku – Ancient Cape Wanbrow Trust

  3. 3

    Turn the pine spur back to native

    The largest steep block on the Cape is a pine plantation — 2.0 hectares of the cover on this headland. Natives are established underneath the pines first and the pines come out in stages afterwards, because taking the shelter away in one go would expose everything planted behind it.

    Proposed. Removing the pines needs the Council’s agreement.

    A gravel track along a grassy ridge, a wall of dark pine plantation filling the middle distance, and the sea beyond.
    “Looking down from Lookout Point towards the area covered in Pines. The WDC intends to remove these as needed to allow future planting to continue across the whole cape.”Ma Kōtukutuku – Ancient Cape Wanbrow Trust

  4. 4

    Stand the sculptures

    Weathering steel silhouettes with the animal’s skeleton profile-cut from polished stainless and stood off the surface. One stands at the bottom car park; the South Island giant moa, 3.6 m tall, is funded and drawn for Lookout Point.

    Up to 15 sites proposed, the next five over three to five years.

    A weathering-steel moa silhouette with its skeleton cut from polished stainless steel, standing on mown grass beside a steel cabbage tree, with plant protectors scattered across the slope behind and a scrubby hillside above.
    “The first of the 5 Moa Sculptures is erected at the carpark at the bottom of the track.”Ma Kōtukutuku – Ancient Cape Wanbrow Trust · designed by Trish Shirley, built by Apex Engineering

  5. 5

    Put up signs

    Signage that names the plants going into the ground, a planting-plan board at the top of the zigzag, and storyboards for the cultural, ecological, historical and recreational values of the Cape.

    Anything interpreting this place culturally is written with the rūnanga.

Two purposes of the trust reach beyond the headland: predator control, and wildlife corridors linking Ōamaru southwards towards Orokonui. Both are in the catalogue below.

20.9
hectares
in 19 surveyed planting blocks
9.2
hectares to plant
block area less the cover already there
1,164
plants in 2026
the first full season
20,000
plants, long term
70% trees, 30% shrubs and flax
1 of 15
sculptures
one built, one funded and drawn
11.4
km of track
crossing the project area, built by others

At about 1,500 plants a winter, the long-term figure is a target rather than a schedule.

How far we have got

20.9hectares, in 19 surveyed blocks
grouped here into 7 places · a band roughly 850 m by 450 m across the harbour-facing slopes and the ridge, not the whole headland
Planted by the project
0.3 ha
Cover already there
9.8 ha
Pine plantation
2.0 ha
Still to plant
8.9 ha
Already vegetated
11.7 ha
56% of the project area — cover that was already here, 2.0 ha of it pine.
Still to plant
9.2 ha
Block area less the cover already there.
Planted so far
0.3 ha
3.1% of the bare ground, and all of it below Lookout Point.

Plants in the ground, 2026

1,164

As at 10 September 2026, across nine planting days. Working towards 20,000.

Everything on the map, by state

  • Not started5
  • Planting under way2

Tours

The sculpture trail

15 stops

One sculpture installed, one funded, and every position proposed for the rest.

Start on the map

The restoration plan

7 stops

The whole project area, place by place — seven places, nineteen surveyed blocks.

Start on the map

The plan, place by place

Every area, sculpture, track and programme on the map of the Cape has its own page.

Restoration areas

Seven pieces of ground, made up of the 19 surveyed blocks. The pale bar is cover already growing there; the bright bar is what this project has planted.

The sculpture trail

Weathering steel and polished stainless, each animal drawn from the fossil record. One is installed at the bottom car park; a second is funded, engineered and drawn.

A render of the South Island giant moa sculpture in place on the Cape: a tall weathering-steel female with her skeleton in polished stainless, a small male beside her, and two steel lancewood trunks rising behind, with the sea and headland beyond.
The South Island giant moa, rendered on the site.Design Trish Shirley · render for Apex Engineering · Not yet installed — the exact spot at Lookout Point is still being settled with the Council.

Proposed positions. The rest of the trail is a draft layout — 12 spots, each with an animal, a size and a fabrication note. Both the position and the animal at it may still change.

Tracks, lookouts and signs

Almost all of the Cape's paths were built by other people. Practical detail for walking them is on Visit.

Wider programmes

Parts of the plan that are not on this hillside: the nursery is in the Oamaru Public Gardens, and the corridor reaches well past the Cape.

Gazetted reserves

  • Bushy Beach Scenic Reserve

    Scenic Reserve · Department of Conservation

  • North Otago War Memorial Reserve

    Recreation Reserve · Department of Conservation

  • Cape Wanbrow Lighthouse Reserve

    Government Purpose Reserve

Data and attribution

  • The 19 planting blocks and their areas, existing-cover estimates, planted ground, walking and mountain-bike tracks, and sculpture sites

    Ma Kōtukutuku – Ancient Cape Wanbrow Trust: planting block survey and GIS · Ma Kōtukutuku – Ancient Cape Wanbrow Trust, surveyed by Survey Waitaki · Used with the Trust’s permission

  • Coastline, cliffs, tracks, streets, reserve boundaries and place names

    OpenStreetMap · © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0

  • Landform — contours, the high point, and the shaded relief

    LINZ NZ 8m Digital Elevation Model (2012) · Sourced from Land Information New Zealand · CC BY 4.0

  • Offshore depth

    GEBCO 2020 grid · GEBCO Compilation Group (2020) · Public domain

The species the planting works towards are the Otago Regional Council’s list for CLF4.2 — Kahikatea, tōtara, mataī forest. The full list, and the birds that could use it, are on The Cape.