Restoration area
The Bottom Car Park
The lower gateway, where the moa stands.
Plants going into the ground, working bee by working bee.
How far we have got
- Already carries cover
- 38%
- 0.16 ha of 0.41. Mapped by extent rather than by species.
- Planted by the project
- 1%
- 27 m² of the 0.26 ha of bare ground here.
These two figures are never added together, and the map draws them separately, block by block. Cover that was already here is not restoration — in one block of this project it is pine.
The blocks behind this place
Survey Waitaki, August 2025Block 10.41 ha · flat-sloped · 38% already vegetated
Lower half 1st gully - includes the bottom carpark
27 m² planted so far.
Where we are now
The lower half of gully 1, flat to sloping, including the car park at the foot of the walking track. A little over a third already carries cover, and a small first planting has gone in a few metres from the sculpture.
What it becomes
Cover on the gully floor either side of the track, so that the first thing a visitor meets on the Cape is the project rather than mown grass.
Why this matters
This is the front door. The heavy-footed moa was installed and blessed here in November 2025, the walking track starts here, and it is the easiest ground in the project to reach with a trailer full of plants.
What needs to happen
3 of 8- Surveyed, measured and described
- Strimmed and spot-sprayed, ready to plant
- Planting begun
- Protectors, stakes and water on
- Planting completed across the bare ground
- Released and weeded, bi-monthly
- Grass held back two years, or until the trees reach 2 m
- Away on its own