what are we protecting
what are we restoring
ecological values
Each year there is less and less coastline in NZ that remains untouched and undeveloped. For this reason alone we feel it’s important to not only preserve what we have but to also actively restore an important coastal ecosystem. The land is currently farmed but is under threat from development, which may restrict public access to a beautiful piece of coastline and do further damage to this important wildlife corridor. However this is also an area of very high conservation value as part of the Whangarei Sanctuary providing key habitat numerous other important and at risk animal and plant species including:
Bar-tailed Godwit (one of only a few landing and habitat sites in the country), North Island Brown Kiwi, Whangarei Heads Daisy (endemic to the Heads), Elegant gecko, Fuchsia procumbens, Banded Kokopu, Spotless crakes and fernbirds, large stands of ancient Kauri - increasingly under threat from dieback disease. And numerous others as outlined in the attached ecological report.
Furthermore, Kauri Mountain Farm is the one piece of privately owned property that prevents a contiguous conservation corridor all the way from Bream Head (DOC land protected and managed by the Bream Head Conservation Trust), along the 7km of DOC scenic reserve on the coastline, Oceans/ Proctors/ Kauri Mountain Beaches and up into Kauri Mountain Forest, 90 ha of which is DOC land containing mature kauri forest.
And lastly, large parts of the farm used to be wetland - and as per the MO of the time - was drained to make way for pasture. Over 90 per cent of New Zealand’s wetlands have been drained or filled over the last 150 years. Some of New Zealand’s most threatened natural ecosystems now include lowland wetlands and bogs such as those that existed on Kauri Mountain Farm.
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Read the complete report here.
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why now?
For the first time in 70 years this piece of land
is for sale. With the owner wanting to sell the
land, we feel that now is the opportunity to halt potential development and begin the process of regeneration and habitat restoration. A dedicated charitable trust would be set up to own the land and manage it in the interest of nature - as the primary stakeholder - and in the public’s interest for ongoing access, wellbeing, and education.