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Clearing the way for return of native plants

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PUBLISHED: 26 AUG 2025
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NPDC has started a project to replace an ageing stands of pine trees in Inglewood with two hectares of native bush.

The project is a big step towards increasing the amount of urban native forest in our district as part of NPDC’s Planting Our Place programme.

“We’ll be doing a mix of planting of appropriate native species and, where possible, allowing for the cleared area to revegetate naturally as there is native forest right next to the site, at Joe Gibbs Reserve,” says NPDC Manager Parks and Open Spaces Conrad Pattison.

“We’ll control any weeds while the new native plants get established and later on we’ll organise a few planting days with locals, to help the site along.

“The result will be a healthy native habitat that can be enjoyed by the community and our native wildlife.”

Logging of the pine trees is expected to start this week and will take about nine weeks to finish. During the work, Trimble Walkway will be closed periodically.

Traffic safety management will mean some sections of Standish Street will need to be closed to traffic at certain times and in early October SH3 next to the reserve – south-bound traffic will follow a detour while northbound traffic will have a stop/go in place with 15-minute delays.

Tree limbs will be chipped on-site and the material used to help condition the soil and support planting. Logs will be held on a reserve land to dry out, after which some will be chipped for calf bedding while others used as a community firewood fundraiser.

“Using the logs in this way means we save money on not having to transport loads of logs off the site,” says Conrad.

Through Planting Our Place, we aim to add a minimum of 34ha of urban native forest across the district to bring back birdsong and make our communities healthier for our children and become New Zealand’s first city to reach 10 per cent coverage.

So far, around 11.8ha new native forest and wetlands have been planted across the district under the programme – not including this Inglewood project.

The pine forest is part of land gifted to NPDC plus an additional 6ha purchased to restore native forest and wetland and provide for a Council, Pukerangiora Hapū and East Taranaki Environment Collective (ETEC) partnership to establish a conservation centre.


FAST FACTS

  • Each year, NPDC’s Te Korowai o Tāne has $30,000 available to help groups with their native planting projects, and the fund is open to applications year-round.
  • NPDC looks after 1,600ha of park and reserve land including 625ha of trees.
  • The 6ha block of land was bought by NPDC in March 2022.


Caption: Joe Gibbes Reserve Pine Forest.

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Page last updated: 11:38am Tue 26 August 2025

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