Kaimai Mamaku Restoration Projects
From saltmarshes, wetlands and lowland rivers between the coast and foothills to the goblin fog and bog forests, towering podocarp forests and rocky outcrops of the mountain ranges.
The Kaimai Mamaku forms a key connection and transition between the forests of the central North Island volcanic plateau and the Coromandel Peninsula.
This transition zone is ecologically unique and gives rise to unusual combinations of animals and vegetation found nowhere else. It is the northern limit for pōpokatea/whitehead, silver beech, kamahi, pink pine, and the southern limit for Coprosma dodonaefolia, towai and kauri.
This feisty bird can fight off a stoat once it reaches 1.2kg in weight so protecting the chicks is vital to the survival of the wild populations. Intensive pest control operations are successfully reversing population decline in many places including the Kaimai Mamaku.
From the wattlebird family, kōkako pairs sing the longest duet of any songbird in the world. After almost becoming extinct in the Kaimai Mamaku, kōkako are making an impressive comeback with the help of intensive pest control.
The smallest and chattiest bird in Aotearoha. The North Island rifleman is one of the last two remaining species of NZ’s wren family. The titipounamu eats only insects, flicking its wings as it forages in bark and foliage. The male builds his nest in cavities, then the family group works together to feed the chicks.
This intelligent forest-dwelling parrot is often heard before it's seen. Thanks to predator control, kaka have been making a comeback in the Kaimai Mamaku and are often seen in the puriri-lined section of Tauranga’s Cameron Road, and walnut and persimmon trees in Morrinsville!
Photo credit: Peter Reese
The kārearea is our fastest bird and has uniquely adapted to hunt in both dense forests and open country. Kārearea will chase a small bird through forest or plummet downward in a swooping dive to surprise its prey. While they're a bird of prey, they nest on the ground so controlling pests that eat eggs and chicks boosts survival of the young.
Both long-tailed and short-tailed pekapeka are present in the Kaimai Mamaku, although short-tailed bats are quite rare. With a threat status of nationally critical, long-tailed bats feed above the forest canopy, along forest margins, over farmland, streams and lakes and sometimes even in caves.
These Te Aroha stag beetle is found under fallen logs in the moist layer of decaying wood or at the base of tree trunks in both Mt Te Aroha and in the southern part of the Coromandel Peninsula. This flightless critter plays a vital role in helping forest litter to decompose and are used to estimate historical environment conditions.
Thought to be locally extinct from the Kaimai kauri groves until the 1980s, but thanks to local conservation efforst, this cannibalistic and carnivorous snail lives on.
One of only four native frogs, the Hochstetter's frog is found in Kaimai streams. Being very small and travelling only small distances in their lifetime, many pepeketua populations are genetically distinct from one another, so each local population has immense biodiversity value.
As well as being home to these species, and thousands of plants, lichens, mosses and fungi, the Kaimai Mamaku ngahere plays a crucial role in stabilising fragile steep soils and regulating water flow into the streams and rivers of the Bay of Plenty and Waikato. With dense healthy forest cover in the Kaimai Mamaku, streams are less likely to erode and flooding is less severe, reducing the threat to our homes, farms, orchards, roads/bridges and harbours downstream.
The forests also normalise sediment movement in waterways, ensuring that Tauranga Moana and the Firth of Thames/Tikapa Moana are not smothered in silt. Those harbours are the nurseries of the recreational fish that a third of New Zealanders enjoy catching.
Receive monthly updates about the Kaimai Mamaku rohe.
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