Biodiversity Corridors - Upper Reaches

The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust aims to work with landowners and council in restoring pockets of hillside bush and riparian strips as biodiversity corridors along the upper reaches of the Ruamahanga River, from Mt Bruce and the hillsides surrounding the Pūkaha Wildlife Centre, all the way to the ancient podocarp bush reserves that surround Rathkeale College – and onwards through Gladstone, Martinborough, to Palliser Bay.

The Upper Reaches project was created with the long-term aim to identify and protect resilient conservation zones along the Ruamāhanga River. The Trust has launched a short-term achievable goal, introducing a planned programme of predator control, ecological weed control, biodiversity assessment, and restoration plantings on QEII blocks and forest remnant sites along the upper reaches of the Ruamāhanga River.

This work includes recording rare plants and native bird species, repairing canopy gaps, creating edge vegetation, allowing native plants to have a secure seed production base, and reintroducing plant species that play a key role in the area’s ecosystem.

In 2025, the Trust began work on six key sites along the upper reaches identified as having significant ecological value, including the well-known Hidden Lakes site.

The Trust plans to continue this work in 2026, carrying out quality pest control targeting rats and possums over the entire area, controlling ecological weed species in the planting area, identifying and protecting rare flora, and planting appropriate species for the area over time to produce closed canopies capable of regenerating naturally.