Restoration area
The Cape Top
The two largest blocks: the ridge top, town side and seaward.
Surveyed, measured and described. Nothing done on the ground yet.
How far we have got
- Already carries cover
- 69%
- 4.40 ha of 6.34. Mapped by extent rather than by species.
- Planted by the project
- 0%
- Nothing yet. 1.94 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 93.19 ha · flat -sloped · 65% already vegetated
Area from top of cape down to track to Emplacments and along track around to fence line
Block 113.15 ha · flat -sloped · 74% already vegetated
Upper town side part of Cape hill above vehicle track around to head of 2nd gully
Where we are now
The high ground of the project, from the vehicle track around to the head of gully 2 and out along the track to the gun emplacements. Flat to sloping, between roughly 59 m and 102 m, and about seven-tenths covered — by extent, not by species.
What it becomes
Cover that will actually hold on the tops: hardy, exposure-tolerant species first, taller trees only once there is shelter, and the sight corridors the Council requires kept open.
Why this matters
Nearly a third of the project area by size, and the ground a visitor crosses between the two entrances. It is also the most exposed, which is why shelter goes in before anything iconic.
What needs to happen
1 of 9- 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
- Agree the sight corridors that have to stay open
The summit is not in the plan
Cape Wanbrow’s high point — the 127 m spot height on this map — sits about a hundred metres south of this block and is not project land. The highest ground the project works on is around 102 m. The band of blocks is the project; the headland is bigger than the plan.