TRIP REPORT : Tautane Station

6-9 April 2007 (Easter)

On Friday afternoon, we explored Cape Turnagain, a spectacular combination of landforms with massive mudstone cliffs, active sand dunes and a coastal platform of sand-covered, fossil-bearing rock and rock-fall debris.   Interesting plants seen included a hybrid flax (Phormium cookianum × P. tenax), Coprosma acerosa, Pimelea arenaria and pingao (Desmoschoenus spiralis).   We worked off a species list developed over several trips in the early 1980s by Tony Druce and Geoff Park.   We didn’t find all 120 species they had recorded but would have had to spend more time on the cliffs and cliff tops to establish the changes since then.

We spent Saturday exploring two steep covenants on Tautane Station and preparing species lists from scratch.   The first covenant, of 32 ha, has been fenced for about 10 years and is in good condition with 80% forest cover including some virgin forest with magnificent podocarps, pukatea, a northern rata and rewarewa.   The second was smaller with less understorey as the fencing was more recent and still vulnerable to slumping.   This area lacked the diversity of the larger area but did have some species we hadn’t found in the morning, for example, lemonwood (Pittosporum eugenioides).

Sunday’s challenge was three covenants on a property on Route 52.   The first, of little more than one hectare, had been fenced for two years but its tree species, including kahikatea, ngaio and black beech were already producing a healthy crop of seedlings.   There were also a surprising number of plants of Asplenium hookerianum.   The second covenant, spanning a steep gully, has been fenced for a year.   It features a big rimu, a big hinau, Drymoanthus adversus and a developing understorey.

Three generations of the family joined us for a picnic lunch high above the third covenant before we dropped into a different association of plants for the afternoon.   This covenant has a mosaic of plant communities ranging from vigorously regenerating manuka shrubland acting as a nursery and buffer, and black beech forest on a dry spur, to broadleaf forest in the gullies.   We also found some carexes, orchids, nikau and Helichrysum lanceolatum.   Features include a large hinau, big kanuka and the future challenge of removing pine trees from steep cliffs.

Our inspirational and enthusiastic guide and contact for our visits to these covenants was Marie Taylor, who worked in the area for the Queen Elizabeth II Trust for many years and has now left to start growing Hawke’s Bay native plants commercially.

On Monday we were joined by Bill Wallace from Pahiatua who now oversees these covenants for the trust.   Bill led us onto two small covenants where the collecting habits of one of the former owners provided us with some new identification challenges; he’d planted a variety of species from outside the area including puriri and mangeao (Litsea calicaris).

We felt very privileged to have been able to visit such a variety of covenants during this trip.   All New Zealanders owe a real debt of gratitude to the current owners and their ancestors for saving these remnants of the former vegetation and for providing for their on-going protection through covenants.   The surrounding hills seemed very dull and barren in comparison.

Our trip finished with a surprise visit to the top of the Puketoi Range, a prominent range east of Pahiatua.   As we gazed out on 360 degree views in calm sunny conditions, it was hard to believe Bill’s stories about the dreadful weather that usually affects this public conservation land.   The bush, however, provided the confirmation that we’d left the dryness of Hawke’s Bay.   We were now amongst dense mountain horopito, Olearia ilicifolia and even mountain cabbage tree.   There were even several filmy ferns for those who were suffering withdrawal symptoms.

Participants :   Bev Abbott, Margaret Aitken, Barbara Clark, Gavin Dench, Val Erhardt, Ian and Jill Goodwin, Bryan Halliday, Chris Horne, Louise Huxley, Kay Griffiths, Rodney Lewington, Donna Miller, Barbara Mitcalfe, Syd Moore, Donella Moss, Mick Parsons, Oliver Parsons, Darea Sherratt, Owen Spearpoint, Jeanette Skinner, Sunita Singh, Marie Taylor and Bill Wallace.