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19/12/11 News from CoastCare's Coordinator Piha Coastcare Trust has been closely watching the extensive dune erosion that has been occurring since the Marawhara and Wekatahi Streams joined and started moving south about May last year. We calculate that we have lost about 50 linear metres of dune over the last 15 months. We have suggested to Council that they should enact the current Resource Consent which allows for the mechanical movement of up to 5000 cubic metres of sand annually "... for the purpose of maintaining the realignment of the Marawhara and Wekatahi Streams and rebuilt foredune...." Council's response to us has been that they will not take any action until the road is under threat. On December 15th, Council invited Coastcare Trust and R&R representatives to meet with them so that they could explain their monitoring programme, and discuss trigger points ie when Council will decide on what action they wioll take. They will supply us with maps of their proposals when they have prepared them.. Council officers have been monitoring beach levels, and will continue to do so at three monthly intervals. This monitoring will give them a picture of how the beach levels are changing and will assist them in making the decision on the need for intervene. As we know, the sand on Piha Beach is currently in an extensive acretion phase, with large quantities of sand moving north from Taranaki and the Waikato. Council's decision about when to enact the resource consent will be made when the erosion meets a point one or two metres west of an agreed 'trigger point' They will act while there is still enough Spninfex dune to ensure that the dunes can naturally re-form. It is interesting to note that when the streams were separated in 2004, there was no Spinifex on these dunes. The vegetation was mostly Kikuyu and other exotic plants. At least now, thanks to the efforts of Coastcare members, the dunes have a covering of native dune grasses which will enable the dunes to reform themselves if the streams are separated. Delaying taking action until most of the dunes have disappeared is not Coastcare's preferred option. We would like action to be taken sooner but at this stage we seem to have have no reasonable option but to accept Council's plans and keep in touch with what is going on. We have requested that Council runs a community workshop early next year to explain their rationale and process to everyone. We will notify you if this goes ahead. Regards to all Pat La Roche (Piha Coastcare Coordinator) NZ Dune Restoration Trust annual conference held at Ohope Beach. Pat la Roche, Piha CoastCare Coordinator recently attended this conference. Read Pat's report Dunes Conference Report here
will be held in Taipa in the far north 14th - 17th February 2012 NZ Dune Trust Conference 2012 Flyer HERE. 173kbpdf file
08/03/11 Piha CoastCare February Update I have spent the last few days at the Annual Conference of the Dunes Trust which this year was held at Ohope Beach in the Bay of Plenty. It is always stimulating and refreshing to meet up with people from all over New Zealand who are committed to caring for some of the 11% of original dunelands remaining in New Zealand. And I?m always envious to hear from places such as Northland and Bay of Plenty about the amazing work they do with the assistance of a full-time Council-funded CoastCare Coordinator. It would be wonderful if our new Auckland Council could follow their enlightened example. (More details following this report) New Neighbourhood Group The residents at the far end of Garden Road (from about number 95) have organized themselves to combine efforts to eliminate weeds from their neighbourhood. If people work together in neighbourhood groups, Council has special funding available to assist them with advice, sprays, weed bins and plants. The Garden Road group is planning a blitz on Pampas on Easter Saturday, and Council is providing them with a weed bin. If you live at the far end of Garden Road, and would like to join in, email Martin on martin@plumbcraft.co.nz or phone the CoastCare Coordinator. Also, if you would like to form your own neighbourhood group, contact the CoastCare Coordinator. Pampas Looking beyond the dunes, we are currently seeing a proliferation of pink flower heads on the Pampas plants, reminding us of just how widespread this pest plant is in Piha. The pink flower heads will fade to a greyish colour as they age, which makes them look more like Toetoe. If you remove and bag the flower heads while they are pink, and then get rid of the plants you can be sure you are getting Pampas rather than the native Toetoe. Pampas plants can be sprayed with Glysophate (eg Roundup), or they can be cut with a scrub cutter, and followed up by spraying the re-growth. Of course, the plants can also be dug out, leaving the ground immediately clear for re-planting Anyone who removes Pampas from their property is eligible for free replacement Toetoe (or other) plants. Contact the CoastCare Coordinator to place your order or for more advice on eradication.. Agapanthus If you haven't already done so, now is time to cut the seed/flower heads off any Agapanthus plants you may have on your property (or on public land near your place). The former ARC put a large amount of time and money into reducing the numbers of Agapanthus plants in Piha. It would be unfortunate if they were allowed to gradually creep back again. Agapanthus can be dug out or sprayed with Grazon. As with all weed control, it is important to follow up at regular intervals. For people living on Piha Road or Seaview Road, it would be especially appreciated if you could remove the plants growing along the roadside. Weed Bin We are very grateful to Fiona Anderson at the Piha Camp for organizing the CoastCare weed bin which you can find by driving past her house, and turning right. It is very disheartening to find that many people are abusing this service and putting all sorts of other rubbish as well as garden trimmings into the bin. I realize that people reading this newsletter will not be the culprits. However, if you see anyone misusing the bin, either ask them to take their rubbish away with them, or note the vehicle registration number and ask for assistance from the camp office or the Council Call Centre 839 0400. Free Sprays and Sprayers Available. CoastCare has a supply of sprays and quality sprayers available free to people who would like to tackle their weeds. We can also give advice if you are unsure of how to proceed with getting rid of your weeds. Contact the Coordinator if you are interested. 14/10/10 Hello All Piha Coastcarers Waitakere City Council and Piha Coastcare Trust are hosting an event in the Piha Surf Club on November 7th at 3pm to celebrate the environmental progress that has been made in Piha since the formation of Piha Coastcare eight years ago, and the people who have helped to make these achievements possible. Please keep this date free so that we can acknolwedge as many people as possible from both the Community and the Council at our celebration. The partnership between Council, Coastcare and Community has been a key element in our achievements to date and, we hope, into the future We will provide you with a delicious afternoon tea and the bar will be open at the end of our formal proceedings so that you can linger and mingle if you would like to. Best Wishes to All Pat La Roche (Piha CoastCare Coordinator) VACANCIES FOR 2 PART-TIME RANGERS AT PIHA Summer 2010/11 22/9/10 The Piha Coastcare Trust has been contracted by Waitakere City Council to provide a ranger service for Piha over the summer months. Two part-time contract positions are available, one at approximately 16 hours per week (weekends and public holidays only) until mid April, and the other for 30 hours per week (week days) for a 2 month period during January and February. Applicants must be committed to the conservation of the natural environment and have good public relations skills with all age groups. Applicants for the weekend position would need to be available to take up duties from October 23rd (Labour Weekend) 2010. For job description and contract conditions, please apply to:
Pat La Roche, phone 8128 202 or email Pat here or
P La Roche, All enquiries will be treated as confidential. Applications close at midday on Friday, 08 October '10. September 7th '10 News: As we near the end of our first year of operation, I can report that the Piha CoastCare Trust is in good heart, and that the Trust Board is a great group of people who are working well together. Even though our interests are wide-ranging, our two most recent activities were centered on the dunes.
The second event was on our Piha mid-beach dunes. It is good to note that Piha's dunes from Lion Rock North are in reasonable shape after considerable restoration work by Piha CoastCare and the Community over the last 6 years. Lion Rock Corner had degraded to the point that sand was threatening to invade the road and adjacent properties.
Photo left: Dunes photographed in 2004.
Now, 6 years later we have a healthy protective dune system. Dune grasses such as Spinifex and Pingao do a great job of trapping wind-blown sand and forming a low rounded dune. The greatest danger to our dunes is people trampling and breaking the runners of the Spinifex causing the plants to die, and the key to keeping the dunes low is healthy plants at the coastal edge.
Photo left; the Dunes as you see them today While there have been some improvements on the South Beach, there is still a big blow-out at the far south end, and some smaller ones near the Surf Platform. Unfortunately there is some local opposition to restoration on these sites, resulting in sand being blown onto the road and unnecessarily large amounts of our ratepayer dollars being spent on gathering up the sand from the road and transporting it over the hill. Two simple measures would keep the sand in the beach system and save us thousands of dollars at the same time. Planting dune grasses would stop sand blowing onto the road, and returning cleaned windblown sand from the road to the beach would be much cheaper than transporting it over the hill. We appreciate the efforts of the large majority of residents and visitors who value and take care of the coastal environment that makes Piha such a special place. We are interested in your messages of support for the repair of these damaged dunes. Your emails are welcome from HERE
Photos below: 1st & 2nd show the spinifix growing on the dunes with healthy 'toes'. Lower photo shows people using the 'walk ways' over the dunes
July 17th '10 News: Working Bee, Sunday August 1st : Our first winter planting will be held on August first, to do infill planting of Spinifex on the Mid Beach dunes. The planting from previous seasons has done well, but there are still some areas that need a bit of a boost. Meet at the Lion Rock Corner carpark at 10am and bring suitable footwear, windproof / waterproof clothing, gloves and a spade (or use ours). Dune planting is a good activity to bring your children to - easy work, and if interest wanes, there is always the beach.... Congratulations: The residents of Beach Valley Road are to be heartily congratulated on being awarded the Auckland Region Weedbusters award for a private land group. The outstanding environmental improvements in beach Valley Road, where weeds have been replaced by eco-sourced natives, have been made possible because nearly all households in the street have participated. WCC is very keen to support other neighbourhood groups who would like to effect a similar transformation in their own neck-of-the-woods, on the grounds that there is no point in their assisting one property owner to become weed-free if their neighbours continue to share their weeds with all and sundry! Assistance is available to groups of neighbours or whole streets. New Dune Signs: For many years now, Mandy Patmore has made us beautiful hand-painted dune signs. Unfortunately for us, Mandy is in high demand as an artist and teacher, and no longer has the time to do this work for Piha Coastcare. We owe a huge vote of thanks to Mandy for her work over the years. Fortunately, we have been able to purchase new signs through the Council, that will, we hope, do a similar job. The new signage will be gradually phased in as we run out of Mandy's signs. Working Bee Activity: Planting Spinifex on Mid Beach dunes Date: Sunday August 1st Time: 10am Meet: Lion Rock Corner Carpark Bring: Windproof / waterproof clothing, strong shoes, gloves, spade (or use ours) June '10: NZ Plant Conservation Network 2010 Conference in Christchurch from Friday 8 - 10 October 2010: Theme Plants in a human landscape - conservation outside nature reserves NZPCN Conference Flyer [751kb].pdf May '10 The "Beach Valley Road Project" in Piha, supported by Piha CoastCare Wins Weedbusters Award Well into it's third year the Community "Beach Valley Road Project", a fabulous partnership with Waitakere City Council Parks, has won the Weedbusters Auckland Region Wide 'Private Land Group' Award. The goals: "Eradicate Weeds, replace with natives, pedestrian and vehicle safety". What a Team, what a project! Beach Valley Road Project May '10 Piha CoastCare publish their Operating Protocols HERE April 2010 Piha CoastCare are pleased to advice that we have successfully negotiated with WCC to have one of our Rangers on Duty for the Export Gold 16 Surfing Competition in Piha 23 & 24 April 2010. Ranger Susie will be on duty Friday and Saturday April 2010 Become a Fan of Piha CoastCare on Facebook by clicking logo on the left 18/4/2010 Piha CoastCare Trustees thank Rangers for their great service See the photos April 2010: A new page added to website: Natives in Piha If you would like one added please just Email us here and we'll do our very best. 4th April 2010 See photos of CoastCare's Easter Outing to Mercer Bay Loop Track HERE 3/3/10 To: President, Piha Ratepayers and Residents Assn, Piha Dear Keith I am in receipt of your Presidents Report to the 2010 R&R Annual General meeting. Included in this report is one sentence regarding Coastcare that reads: "Coastcare after asking the R&R for finding (sic) and receiving it, then advised us that they had formed trust and would no longer be involved with the R&R" The two events you refer to are two separate matters, and we would like you to revise your report to more accurately reflect what happened. At the February 09 meeting of the R&R Committee, in response to a request from Piha Coastcare, a donation of $1000 was made towards the catering costs for the upcoming National Dunes Conference being held in Piha in March 2009. This donation was not for Piha Coastcare, but was sponsorship of the Dunes Conference on the same sort of basis that R&R also made a similar donation to the Piha Surf Club to run its anniversary celebration. At the end of July Piha Coastcare announced to its members that it was in the process of forming a Trust and at the end of September, following the first meeting of the Trust Board, a letter was sent to R&R in which we said that the Coastcare Trust looked forward to maintaining "an ongoing friendly and productive relationship with you". Could you please alter your report to convey a more accurate account to your members. Regards Berend Westera, Chair, Piha CoastCare Trust See what our WCC Piha Rangers are doing HERE See news on War on Weeds HERE 24 Feb '10: Nature in my Neighbourhood March 2010 : Discover how you can work with your neighbours (like the Beach Valley Rd Project) to look after local streams and gardens. This is a really great course Keep Easter Sunday 2010 free for a great outing with Piha CoastCare - suitable for children and fun. Includes Easter Egg Hunt for the under 12
24th Feb '10: The Future of Piha Beach and Dunes - Community Open Day - March 7th This flyer is going out by postal delivery, letterbox drop and display at the library at Piha Community Library You can see it HERE also [760kb].pdf Wai Care Expo 2010 24th April 2010
Unitec, Mt Albert Campus, Auckland City
Community Consultation : The Future of Piha Beach and Dunes - Session Two OPEN DAY - ALL WELCOME Presentations at 10.30, 12.00 and 1.30
Please see HERE a document outlining Session One on 18th October '09 This is a very important document to read in preparation for the next Open Day Consultation March 7th 2010 at Piha SLSC which will provide further opportunity to discuss the long term management of the beach and dunes. Come along to:
5/01/10 Dogs on our local beaches
'What you need to know' includes maps of Piha Beaches and Bethells showing where dogs are and aren't allowed and when. Please keep it in a handy place to remind you and visitors you may have with dogs so they can see it too.
31/1/10 Piha CoastCare Shed is relocated on a rainy rainy day
Today Piha CoastCare's shed was relocated from Geoff's place in Glenesk Road to beside Fiona's garage on the Domain. Now we can store the Piha Ranger's gear in there so they have easy access to it.
The big strong Piha men who moved it for us, it took 8 of them, are from left: Nigel Mark-Brown (Trustee) Steve Skidmore, Berend Westera (Trust Chair) Jon Lees, Allan la Roche, Andy Higgs, Mike Phillipps and Rob Donald. Thanks Heaps to Fiona for allowing it there, Pat for organising the move and the big strong Piha men for moving it for us. Dec 09: Piha CoastCare supports ARC & WCC to eradicate Climbing Asparagus from Piha. See details Nov 09: Piha CoastCare announces the 2009/10 Piha Rangers See details here 27/11/09 Piha CoastCare Chair, Berend Westera, signs the contract with Waitakere City Council for Piha CoastCare Trust to provide Ranger Services in Piha . . . for details have a look here
Keep Waitakere Beautiful Trust present their EcoWise Awards Annually. The Kauri Award: Most active individual volunteer working in the community to beautify Waitakere City by reducing litter, weeds and/or graffiti. Left: Pat receiving her baby nikau and finalist certificate.
Left: The certificate that Pat received. click for big copy.
VACANCIES FOR 2 PART-TIME RANGERS AT PIHA Summer 2009/10 10/11/09 The Piha Coastcare Trust has been contracted by Waitakere City Council to provide a ranger service for Piha over the summer months. Two part-time contract positions are available, one at approximately 16 hours per week (weekends and public holidays only) until mid April, and the other for 20 hours per week (week days) for a 2 month period during January and February. Applicants must be committed to the conservation of the natural environment and have good public relations skills with all age groups. Applicants would need to be available to take up the position at the beginning of December 2009. For job description and contract conditions, please apply to one of the CoastCare Co-ordinators.
All enquiries will be treated as confidential. Applications close at midday on Monday, 23 November. WCC Piha Ranger Service : The Piha CoastCare Trust wins tender for Ranger Service Nov '09 The Trustees of Piha CoastCare are delighted to announce they have won the tender to provide summer 'ranger services' in Piha. In putting the 'tender together' the Trustees thought long and hard about how the summer ranger could offer the very best value to the Piha Community and Visitors to Piha. We thought well outside the square and submitted a tender with the hope that WCC would see how this would benefit everyone. We are thrilled to have won the tender. Community Consultation : The Future of Piha Beach and Dunes 18/10/09Sharing ideas on how you would like to see Piha Beach managed in the futre and hear coastal experts give a presentation about "How West Coast Beaches Function"
First Consultations 18th October 2009: Below: 4 tables were set up with 'post it' stickers for people to write their thoughts on these quesitons.
Below: The three sessions were well attended with plenty of questions being asked by the audience.
Below: Freehand map of the area being consulted on
An example of the 'post it' stickers with feedback.
Below: Random photos
We would also like to thank the person who wrote the idea on the left :-)
Email Harley @ Coastline Consultants here if you would like to share your ideas with him. Piha CoastCare Trust is supporting this process Piha Surf Life Saving Club is also offering their club rooms free for the consultation process . . . While you are here REGISTER with Piha CoastCare Trust to receive our newsletter from the Menu on left All information, documents and photos on this website belong to Piha CoastCare Trust or private individuals. No photographs should be downloaded or copied without the express permission of Piha CoastCare Trust. Contact the Trust here This website is designed, written and sponsored by Bobbie Carroll of Piha Beach |
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Hello All
5/12/11 NZ Dune Restoration Trust of NZ 2012 Conference
First, taking advantage of a planting event at White's Beach by local land-owners, we put in the first of our very special Coprosma acerosa plants (photo left).
Piha CoastCare, who manages the WCC Ranger Service in Piha, has arranged for all people with letterboxes and private boxes at the Piha Post Office to receive one of these leaflets.
18/11/09 Piha CoastCare Trustee, Pat la Roche, finalist in WCC Kauri Award
Piha CoastCare Trust would like to thank Piha SLSC for their assistance.
