Awana Bay ecological Restoration and Protection Project

Awana Bay is an important ecological, cultural and historical site on Aotea. The promontory at the northern end is of considerable cultural significance to Māori as it is a historical pa site. The Awana estuary and stream is home to pāteke and a pied shag colony. Important seabirds at this bay include dotterel, kororā/little penguin and manu ōi/grey faced petrel, with the breeding site for the latter being the largest on Aotea.

There are also two rare plants, dwarf mistletoe (Korthalsella salicornioides) and Leptinella tenella, growing on the Auckland Council esplanade and Department of Conservation land on the true right of the lower Awana stream.

The goal of our project is to protect these valued taonga species through predator control and ecological restoration. A network of 70 box traps and 3 AT220 automatic resetting traps are distributed around the bay and regularly cleared and re-set to control rodents.

Restoration of the native vegetation involves a two-pronged approach of removing invasive weeds such as pampas and wilding pines combined with the planting of a range of natives that grow naturally in this area. There have been annual community plantings of native plants at Awana Bay since the winter of 2021 with around 1800 planted to date.

For more information: https://www.gbiet.org/awana-project

Contact details:

Barry Scott

Email: d.b.scott@massey.ac.nz

Mobile: 021 070 4848