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From small beginnings, great and
enduring projects are often created. So
it has been with the hugely successful
and environmentally significant Rings
Beach Wetland Project.
Back in 2008 a relative of mine, the late Bruce
Smith, and his friend Ian MacDonald set about
turning a humble dream into an outstanding
award winning reality.
The plan was initially straightforward – create a
walking track through a piece of regenerating
bush land tucked in behind the beautiful Rings
Beach between Kuaotunu and Matarangi.
Nearly ten years on and that plan has
developed into one of the most spectacular
wetland and bush restoration projects in NZ.
REALISING THE DREAM
Over those years I’ve watched ...and from time
to time helped... the small team of volunteers
as they have gone about fulfilling Bruce and
Ian’s simple but grand vision.
Today there is a well formed and much used
track that takes hikers through an ‘up hill and
down dale’ bush walk of extraordinary beauty.
The team has embarked on extensive tree
planting as well as an active and effective pest
control programme. This, and their work on
the wetland itself, has seen the return of rare
fernbirds and other species to the area.
I walk the track often during the summer break
when I spend time at Kuaotunu and make the
effort to do the 90 minute round circuit every
day when I’m there. There’s nothing better than
getting up early and being the first person of
the day to do the walk. You know you’re the
first as you clear the cobwebs that have been
built across the track during the night before!
In addition to the terrific and ongoing work
being done by Ian’s team, thousands of kauri
have been planted by Kauri 2000. It was their
plan to mark the new millennium back in the
year 2000 by planting 2,000 kauri trees around
the Coromandel Peninsula. They did that,
and
so successful was the venture they’ve just kept
planting.
Today, nearly 10,000 young kauri have been
planted in this area alone, and I delight in telling
visitors that “the Rings Beach walk is home to
the largest planted kauri forest in the world”.
THE LEGACY
I like to encourage younger family members
and visitors to do the track with me. Inevitably
they enjoy the great personal satisfaction
gained from just completing it, but even more
importantly for me is that they get a sense of
the scale of the project that’s been undertaken
by such a small, but very dedicated group of
hardworking volunteers. I want those young
people to return in years to come and marvel
at how big these trees have grown as they
remember their walk and when the trees were
only tiny.
Needless to say all walkers must take careful
precautions to have clean footwear to reduce
the risk of the dreaded Kauri Dieback.
At present the volunteers are focusing on
ridding the bush of wilding pines. Last summer
many were felled and there are plans to cull
more this summer.
This walk is truly one of the Coromandel’s
hidden jewels – well worth seeking out and
doing. I can assure you that once you’ve done
the track, you’ll want to do it again and again.
Full marks to the volunteers for their hard work
and effort. They have created something very
special and have even bigger plans for making
it even more spectacular.
about scott...
Elected Member of Parliament for the
Coromandel in November 2011 and
re-elected this year, Hon Scott Simpson
MP also serves as Minister of Statistics,
Associate Minister of Immigration and
Associate Minister for the Environment.
Scott has deep family ties to the
Whitianga area spanning back four
generations. His great grandparents
arrived in Kuaotunu in the mid-1800s,
and members of his extended family still
farm in the area. Although now living
in Thames, Scott has owned a home
in Kuaotunu for over 20 years. He has
two adult children, and outside interests
include trying to keep fit, reading,
family time and, of course ... hiking and
exploring the Coromandel!
A board walk has been built by volunteers that
allows people to traverse the wetland area.
WWW.COROMANDELLIFE.CO.NZ11