Gahnia Grove - Umbrella Project's Boletim

Working North along this margin to control the imminent reinvasion of honeysuckle to Gahnia Grove from the North resulted in release, mostly from Japanese honeysuckle but also some moth plant and Elaeagnus, of a few dozen trees 4 -8mH. Many of the vine-covered trees were mature, fruiting wherever a branch tip could still penetrate the weed to reach sunlight,

This has produced an extension of the Gahnia Grove trial methodology along the Glenfield Road-side upper margin of Eskdale forest and created the new sub-sites "Strawberry Stand Bank, Putaputaweta Bank, El Sitio, Pohutukawa Bank", and the "Forest below ----" each of those.

This combined area of extension contains a markedly more diverse and streamside community with many Putaputaweta, as well as extensive dense mats of Blechnunm filiforme and Adiantum oblongifolium.

To identify the area for contractors and volunteers, the pigtail cordon along Gahnia Grove at Glenfield Rd has been extended North almost to the petrol station,

To maintain the validity of the data produced for Gahnia Grove from June 2018 -June 2019 Year 1, and for that c. 60 x 40m area, the hours of work and the observations for this extension are being tallied separately.

This June 2019 streamside-community extension North is being referred to as "Rimu Ridge". (cf the extension June 2019 into the kauri-community forest downhill to the forest path is referred to as "Tanekaha Ridge").

This lovely regenerating forest holds towai and other uncommon species, and is infested by Elaeagnus of up to 10cm D. trunks and thorns 8cm L, Japanese honeysuckle up to 6cm D in the margin and up to 2cm D 20 metres into the canopy among the ground ferns and in the trees, many square metres of a monoculture of Palmgrass/Palmaria setifolia, and occasional Madeira tubers, all of which are being contained, suppressed or uprooted as appropriate to this stage of the Project.

People visiting the Eskdale Forest's Glenfield Rd margin often stop, comment on or ask about the restoration project, and some express an interest in casual participation.

We encourage them to contact the Kaipatiki Project and the Auckland Council Community Ranger for training and co-ordination, as we do not have any free time to offer to train and supervise them, and until now none have indicated they already have the necessary plant identification skills, ecological awareness and commitment to training.

Happily, in November 2019 we accepted an ideal trainee and volunteer into the Methodology trial, allocating them a discrete area of operation. The creation of El Sitio and Pohutukawa Bank extended our Northern boundary by about 50m and forms a large part of Rimu Ridge.

While this has of course involved some extra input of time on our part, it has been rewarding to find that the fundamental principles of this methodology are transferable to those with corresponding aims, skills and aptitudes.

It has also resulted in a good deal of honeysuckle being controlled in a previously unaddressed area.