Hinewai Reserve

Hinewai Reserve sign by the main gate

Hinewai Reserve is a private nature reserve on Banks Peninsula in New Zealand.

Description[edit]

Hinewai Reserve started off as a 109 ha block of farmland bought by the Maurice White Native Forest Trust in September 1987 and is now 1230 ha of gorse and regenerating native bush.[1][2]

The reserve was completely forested in pre-human times but, as with much of Banks Peninsula, the forest cover was severely reduced, especially after European settlement. The transformation from open pasture and gorse to native vegetation has occurred rapidly.[3] The reserve includes 20 walking tracks open to the public, including part of the Banks Peninsula Track.

The reserve is managed for the Trust by botanist Hugh Wilson, who hand-writes and illustrates a newsletter about the reserve, Pīpipi, which the Trust publishes several times a year.[4]

One-third of the reserve was burnt on 13 July 2011, possibly due to a lightning strike.[5] In 2017 the Hinewai newsletter reported that there was hardly anything noticeable left. The gorse regrew and so did native shrubs and trees [6]

In December 2021, Hinewai Reserve experienced significant landscape changes due to dramatic floods that caused numerous slips across the area.[7]

Panorama of the whole Hinewai Reserve. Taken from Mikimiki Knob in August 2019

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Cronshaw, Tim (22 February 2008). "Return of the Natives". The Press.
  2. ^ "Hinewai Reserve recovers". The Press. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  3. ^ Wilson, Hugh (1994). "Regeneration of native forest on Hinewai Reserve, Banks Peninsula". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 32 (3): 373–383. doi:10.1080/0028825x.1994.10410480.
  4. ^ Pīpipi. Maurice White Native Forest Trust. ISSN 1173-6674. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ^ "Peninsula native bush reserve ablaze". The Press. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  6. ^ "Following fire" (PDF). Pipipi. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  7. ^ "News – Hinewai Reserve". Retrieved 14 February 2024.

Further reading[edit]

  • Hugh Wilson, (2002) Hinewai: the journal of a New Zealand naturalist ISBN 1-877251-20-8

External links[edit]

43°49′25″S 173°01′51″E / 43.823533°S 173.03074°E / -43.823533; 173.03074

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