Restoration area
The Cliff Strip
Five blocks along the harbour-facing cliff tops.
Surveyed, measured and described. Nothing done on the ground yet.
How far we have got
- Already carries cover
- 40%
- 1.43 ha of 3.61. Mapped by extent rather than by species.
- Planted by the project
- 0%
- Nothing yet. 2.18 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 30.56 ha · steep · 21% already vegetated
Foot of spur, harbour side of track above loess cliffs
Block 40.49 ha · sloped - steep · 29% already vegetated
Foot of spur 2, harbour side of track other side of deep gully in loess cliffs
Block 60.68 ha · sloped - steep · 36% already vegetated
Steep harbour face of spur 2 below vehicle track
Block 71.09 ha · sloped - steep · 40% already vegetated
Strip below vehicle track along the cliff top to above penguin center
Block 80.78 ha · sloped - steep · 63% already vegetated
Strip next to 7 above steep face looking NE out to sea
Where we are now
A band along the harbour side: the feet of both spurs above the loess cliffs, the steep face of the second spur below the vehicle track, and the strip that runs along the cliff top above the blue penguin colony and round to the north-east. Two-fifths covered.
What it becomes
Cover the length of the cliff top — salt- and wind-tolerant at the seaward edge, closing up behind the vehicle track.
Why this matters
This is the face the Cape shows the harbour and the town, and the strip above the penguin colony is the most sensitive ground in the project: the colony has its own planting programme immediately below it.
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
- Coordinate with the blue penguin colony’s own planting