Upgrades needed to save trees
A submission for the Rodney Local Board to support future maintenance and the protection of kauri trees at Matheson Bay’s Kohuroa Track was on the agenda at this month’s meeting.
On February 15, Forest and Bird Warkworth Arena and Matheson Bay Neighbourhood Association representative, Roger Williams spoke to the board about past work that has been done on the track, future hopes and the protection of kauri trees.
The north Auckland Kohuroa Track is a hidden gem surrounded by the beautiful growth of kauris.
The track starts from Leigh Road and takes visitors through native bush and down to a waterfall and swimming hole.
It then drops to a staircase and takes walkers along a track beside the kohuroa stream and down to the beach.
Williams said residents are very proud of the reserve and are concerned about kauri dieback and request a new hygiene station, similar to the one in Piha.
‘‘We have found that around 85 per cent of people either go straight past the washing station that we have created, or do not wash their shoes effectively.
‘‘We need to prevent kauri dieback here before it is too late. We need to build more boardwalks and bridges to protect the roots.’’
Williams said it is important to have dry tracks and to make sure people wash their shoes properly so they do not bring contaminated soil through the track.
‘‘We hope to get support and funding of the extension of the boardwalk to the swimming hole and the upgrade of the boot cleaning stations.
‘‘We also would like to see the track from the swimming hole to the beach upgraded and more improved signage at both ends of the track by 2019.’’
Last year volunteers did extensive weed control, conducted 82 metres of gravel track, six metres of steps and 31 metres of boardwalk.
‘‘We received a $2000 grand from the board and got given a local donation to do this.’’
Rodney local board chairwoman Beth Houlbrooke said the track is ‘‘fabulous’’ and that the council appreciates the work that the volunteers have done.
‘‘We do not have anything in the current budget for it so we will have to look at next years or in other areas.’’