8 Apr 2010

Mangere Island Revegetation

From Our Changing World, 9:06 pm on 8 April 2010

View of revegetation on Mangere Island: looking towards Little Mangere Island (left) and up towards summit

View of revegetation on Mangere Island: looking towards Little Mangere Island (left) and up towards summit (images: A. Ballance)

Mangere Island, in the Chatham Islands, was famously part of the rescue of black robins in the 1970s, when the last 5 black robins were taken there from neighbouring Little Mangere.

Some robins still call the island home, despite the fact there's barely any forest remaining there. But this is a state of affairs the Department of Conservation has been working hard to change. Ranger Bridget Gibb takes Alison Ballance to look at one of the most remote and ambitious replanting projects in New Zealand, and to introduce her to a plant that is known as a hedge on mainland New Zealand, but out on Mangere Island is a conservation hero: the Chatham akeake.

The Mangere Island revegetation project passed an important milestone in 2009 with the planting of 100,000th tree.

Chatham akeakes and DoC ranger Bridget Gibb

Chatham akeakes growing well one year after planting in sprayed grass, and DOC ranger Bridget Gibb in the most well established replantings (images: A. Ballance)

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