Banks Peninsula Peninsula Conservation Trust – transforming the city’s backdoor step
Tūī, tenacity, transformation and technology are some of the hallmarks of the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust as it seeks to restore the hillsides of Banks Peninsula/Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū to a thriving native bush environment.
Using tools such as geographic information system (GIS) mapping, pest-trapping and planting teams, education, and legal protection (covenants), the trust is helping transform privately owned land to its former native tree-covered glory. The trust acts as a conduit between landowners and government, promoting biodiversity and sustainable land management on the peninsula. An integral and welcome component to the success of the projects overseen by the trust is volunteer involvement – and enjoyment!
Visitors might see and hear the iconic tūī (and maybe the night-time morepork/ruru), as a result of the trust’s pest eradication efforts. The more elusive jewelled gecko is, as it’s name suggests, one of the peninsula’s ‘jewels in the crown’; other species having a rare or wow factor are the Akaroa daisy, tītī (sooty shearwater), kororā (blue penguin) and tree wētā. Less welcomed by city visitors might be the creepy crawlies, but invertebrates play an important part in enhancing the peninsula’s ecosystem.
By working with private landowners, runanga and a range of agencies, BPCT is playing a direct role in: protecting and ensuring the management of indigenous forests and rare ecosystems; reintroducing locally extinct species of flora and fauna, such as the magnificent tūī; creating a pest-free environment; and ensuring that management of both the land and freshwater allows indigenous biodiversity to thrive.
A celebration of the trust’s 100th covenant in 2022 was a significant milestone and reflects the joint commitment with landowners to making a conservation impact to Banks Peninsula. The trust has a positive reputation that reaches internationally.
Through the trust’s volunteering programme and the large-scale community initiative Te Kākahu Kahukura (in the southern Port Hills), individuals and organisations are invited to participate in regenerating the hills on the back doorstep of the city of Ōtautahi Christchurch.
