Something fishy in the pipes!
Who knew that healthy streams could mess up your water supply?
Who knew that healthy streams could mess up your water supply?
It was great to welcome the national Environment Committee for the Forest Owners’ Association, and the Eastland Woodland Council to Waikereru recently to tal...
Nice story about the seed island project in the Gisborne Herald. Great to have so much local support for this experiment.
This video shows how important it is to have some woody debris in streams and rivers - just not the huge rafts we’ve been getting from forestry operations up...
We now have two excellent new plans for pest and weed control at Waikereru, by Steve Sawyer from Ecoworks and Marley Ford from Manaaki Whenua. With experts ...
Kereru stripping a kowhai in front of Motukeo
Helicopter hauling logs out of the Waimatā river at Waikereru - cleanup after Cyclone Gabrielle:
Great to see this story about the 1769 Seed Archive from Phillip Smith, 02 Landscapes, with glorious photos by Malcolm Rutherford.
Check out this historic image of Waikereru in 1988, bare as a baby’s bottom - except of course for Longbush Reserve alongside the Waimatā River.
It was great to welcome Pest Free NZ and their ‘state-of-the-art’ trapping workshop to Waikereru.
Te Wharau school students standing on Pā Hill and looking at Motukeo, ancestral mountain and leaping off place of spirits.
The Claude Glass works its magic - planting Puriri for Jem, April 2024.
Mayor Rehette Stoltz visited the Wild Lab recently with Motu school. Pete Jarratt was running a workshop on the 1769 Seed Archive, as our Kereru character t...
Waikereru has been added to the Restor online map of international restoration projects. Restor is an exciting global project that records data from ecologi...
Check out this inspiring Ted Talk about how indigenous forest restoration can help us save the future for our children and grandchildren.
Our seed island project, funded by Lotteries, is going brilliantly. We’re planting ‘seed islands’ of fruit and berry-bearing trees in natural clearings in th...
Extremely rare carnivorous snail found at Waikereru: our eagle-eyed ecologist/trapper Guido spotted this very rare indigenous snail up in the hills, the firs...
Malcolm Rutherford took these shots of the 1769 Seed Archive in the mist, looking glorious - kereru everywhere.
It would be fascinating to know how much carbon is stored in our trees at Waikereru. The scientists at Kew Gardens in London have used LIDAR, a laser 3D ima...
The Wild Lab Tiaki Taiao is up and running again! Now that the road is fixed, local school kids are back at Waikereru, having a wonderful time - along with ...
Our Chair, Dame Anne Salmond, has been deeply involved with the Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti submission to the Ministerial Inquiry into forestry slash and land use ...
Listen to this RNZ report from Matthew Rosenberg on the current state of affairs at home in Tūranga - and so awesome to hear him talking about the impact of ...
The start to 2023 has been a nightmare, with Cyclone Hale in January bringing forestry slash down the river, and Cyclone Gabrielle in February blocking the r...
A very sad start to 2023.
A superb botanical survey of Waikereru by Marley Ford, Mark Smale and Kelly Gilbride has just been published in the New Zealand Botanical journal.
This beautiful image from Simon Devitt captures the ancestral maunga Motukeo as reflected in the Claude Glass at Waikereru, designed by Sarosh Mulla.
Our ‘seed islands’ project is racing ahead, based on expert botanical and geomorphological advice. The idea is to plant ‘seed islands’ of diverse native tre...
It’s fascinating to see the landforms at Waikereru through the eyes of an expert geomorphologist.
The Wild Lab Tiaki Taiao is celebrating a major success, securing funding from the Ministry of Education for its workshops for students, and for teachers for...
After a terrible job of grading the surface in the wake of the big winter storms, Riverside Road has become very dangerous. Potholes, ruts, no gravel, lots ...
Lovely comments about Longbush Reserve on the Gisborne District Council website: https://gisbornecity.co.nz/gisborne-blog/longbush-reserve-gisborne/
Here’s a short timelapse showing the regeneration at Waikereru over the past 60 years.
On 20 April, Robyn Wilkie from Ecoworks hosted a biodiversity restoration workshop on the banks of the Waimata river at Longbush Reserve. The workshop was we...
We’re figuring out how to use strategic ‘seed island’ plantings in manuka-kanuka regenerating shrublands on the Waikereru Hills to speed up the restoration o...
Robyn Wilkie and her team planting up the wetland at Waikereru - many thanks to Gisborne District Council for funding and Lois Easton for organising this pro...
The Women’s Native Trees Trust had a seed collection workshop in the 1769 Seed Archive, taking seed from some of our plants for other restoration projects in...
A new one for Waikereru. The Wild Lab team helped to facilitate a team building exercise for the local office of BDO Spicer. The birds sang, they climbed P...
Robyn Wilkie and Lois Easton working out how best to plant up the pond and our wetlands at Waikereru, funded by a grant from the Gisborne District Council Co...
For the first time in 20 years, both the Waitui and Waikereru stream culverts were completely blocked with wood, rocks and silt. A huge family effort got th...
After the huge April flood, Robyn’s checking out our riparian plantings to make sure they survived the deluge.
Dave Hughes, who’s in his nineties, is a legend at Waikereru. He’s been planting trees here and populating the streams with eels for the past twenty years, ...
More good things happening on the Waimatā River:
Many thanks to Shaun Akroyd (Ngāti Porou, Ngati Maru/Rongowhakaata) for his highly supportive and meticulous independent review of the Wild Lab Tiaki Taiao p...
The North stream waterfall was absolutely pumping after torrential rainfall (two months of rain in 36 hours)!
We’ve had a plague of rabbits at Waikereru during lockdown. Ginny Penn, who helps to take care of the gardens, is a gifted artist (like her daughter Brigdhe...
The marvellous gift of 20 ngutu kākā mā - rare white kākā beak plants - from Ngāi Kohatu and Ngāti Hinehika, and artist Raewyn Atkinson is now in its full gl...
Robyn Wilkie knows how to hold a river bank together - harakeke at the eroding edges, mānuka, kānuka, totara and cabbage trees further back.
Fabulous to see our ‘Let the River Speak’ research team out on the Waimatā River with the Horouta waka ama paddlers; and to have such a great turn-out at the...
Here’s another great article (this time from Radio NZ) on the ‘Let the River Speak’ team visit and public meeting:
A terrific article on the Waimatā project from the Gisborne Herald.
The Wild Lab Tiaki Taiao is pumping. Here’s a group of Eastern Institute of Technology (Tairawhiti) teacher trainees at the Welcome Shelter.
An excellent article on the rivers project from the University of Auckland.
It was a pleasure for our Chair to speak at the launch of ‘O Tātou Ngāhere’ campaign at Te Papa, recently, advocating a major expansion of native afforestati...
After a formal presentation to Gisborne District Council and an exciting series of meetings with iwi and community leaders, we had a fantastic field day at W...
Kudos to the Harriers who helped Tim (centre) to start forming a new running track at Waikereru. Its going to be a beauty!
A great way to start the New Year! The Waimatā River restoration project wins $850,000 from the Freshwater Improvement grant to fence and plant alongside the...
Wow - Jovellana Sinclarii (native harebell) popping up everywhere along the Waitui stream, beside the new board walk. Lovely to see this rare plant thriving...
Fantastic to see Sarosh Mulla’s Claude Glass installed at Waikereru, reflecting Motukeo. (A scaled up version of a convex obsidian mirror named after the 18...
Sarosh Mulla’s Welcome Shelter at Waikereru has won a national Design Award from the NZ Institute of Architects - congratulations!!
Hooray! The fence at Waikereru is being upgraded to exclude deer and goats, to protect our rare plants and the birds that rely on them. Many thanks to the L...
Meet ‘Stinky the Stoat’, for our Pesky Predators Wild Lab workshop. How many wilderness education programmes have costumes made by the costume designer for D...
Fantastic to see the Harriers back at Waikereru for their third annual run to date. Terrific fun.
A big bouquet to Sarosh Mulla for the Welcome Shelter, which has just won an NZIA design award.
Check out this map of the blocks and ancestral place names in the Waimatā catchment, drafted by Hamish MacDonald from nineteenth century Native Land Court ma...
Brighde Penn, who was brought up on Cave Road in the Waimatā Valley, has written this beautifully illustrated and thoughtful thesis on the mask workshops she...
Waitui Walkway - our second lockdown project, with the proud bridge builder. Once the weeds were cleared away we discovered this beautiful little ampitheatr...
This morning Steve Sawyer saw a flock of about six pōpokotea (whiteheads) in Longbush Reserve. Its wonderful that these rare little birds - whiteheads and to...
The Waimatā Catchment Restoration Project is up and running, with funding from the Erosion Control Fund, Lois Easton (former Head of Science at Gisborne Dist...
Jeremy and Anne have been making tracks in lockdown. First effort - a 800 metre track up the Waikereru Stream. Absolutely beautiful, with clouds of pīwaiwa...
A common bag moth or pū a Raukatauri (Liothula omnivore) found climbing the wall of the house – a variation on incy-wincy-spider, and clearly very determined...
Janine Te Reo, kai-tiaki of the Rene Orchiston pā harakeke, has pointed out that the flax plants are being crowded by the trees in the Arboretum, and suggest...
Led by trustee Lois Easton, we’re planning to create a new wetland around the old farm pond at Waikereru.
With heartfelt thanks to Pete and Elle Jarratt, Wild Lab Tiaki Taiao, our wilderness programme for kids, had a brilliant year in 2019. Here’s our report to ...
Robyn Wilkie spotted a toutouwai (N. Island robin) from our relocation programme some years back towards the north end of Longbush Reserve; and Malcolm Ruthe...
Homage to Brighde Penn from Waimatā, and Ruby from Wales for these spectacular costumes of a kereru and mayfly (and a mayfly puppet) for the Wild Lab / Tiaki...
Our chair delivers the last Kosmos lecture in Berlin, thinking about environmental challenges outside the modernist square.
The Waimatā River restoration project led by Lois Easton and managed by Laura Savage under the umbrella of the Longbush Ecological Trust has just been funded...
Malcolm Rutherford’s recent talk on the 1769 Seed Archive to the Friends of the Christchurch Botanical Garden was much appreciated. See the report on Malcolm...
During a visit to Akaroa last weekend, we met the botanist Hugh Wilson, star of the film Fools and Dreamers, who is restoring much of the Akaroa peninsula t...
Here’s another great story about Waikereru, this time from Pure Advantage, describing how we’ve used seed islands of fruit- and berry-bearing native trees a...
A wonderful flowering of plants this year has resulted in crowds of birds taking advantage of Nature’s generosity. Tūī, Korimako and Tauhou have been raidin...
A marvellous story about the 1769 Seed Archive and its people (Philip Smith, Malcolm Rutherford, Graeme Atkins) in the latest New Zealand Gardener magazine.
Such a pleasure to host some of the Tahitian delegation to Moana Nui and Tuia 250 at Waikereru, and show them the Tupaia mistletoe in the 1769 Seed Archive -...
The 1769 Seed Archive is in full bloom, with kowhai and kaka beak and other more retiring, less dramatic flowers appearing in time for our Tuia 250 visitors.
Bad news from DoC’s Community Conservation Fund. No ongoing pest and weed control funding for Waikereru. Not sure how our Trust could do more to support bio...
Our joint presentation about the state of Tairāwhiti forests (Trust chair Anne Salmond, trustee Graeme Atkins and Natalie Robertson) at the Environmental Def...
Awesome strategic planning session for Longbush Ecological Trust, with Malcolm Rutherford, Graeme Atkins, Jennie Harre-Hindmarsh, Lois Easton, Steve Sawyer, ...
Ka mau te wehi! Anna Barber from DOC and Hawaiiki Hou kura kaupapa working bee at Donner’s Bush. Can’t wait to see those plants springing up out of the gro...
Awesome, Wild Lab! Great story in the Gisborne Herald.
Such a pleasure to have artist Raewyn Atkinson come to Waikereru with 20 kowhai ngutu kākā mā (white kaka beak) after her successful exhibition ‘I Too am in...
The Gisborne Harriers descended on Waikereru for their annual Longbush run, in support of the Gisborne Stroke Foundation. Brilliant turnout with 86 runners ...
A load of wool from Hegarty’s, Riverside Road, about to go to Napier, 1938.
Anne and Jeremy are in Munich, Germany, where they’ve had inspiring meetings with local foresters and river restoration experts.
Graeme Atkins brings plants from the Tairawhiti heartland and puts them in the 1769 Seed Archive, where the Wild Lab / Tiaki Taiao introduces them to local k...
Great to see the 1769 Seed Archive looking amazing - thanks to Malcolm Rutherford, Philip Smith and Graeme Atkins (and David Bergin, who took the photos). I...
Anne and Jeremy are in Germany, where they checked out the latest local pest control technology:
Thanks to funding support from Air NZ Environment Trust, the Sunshine Trust and UNESCO, the Wild Lab / Tiaki Taio wilderness programme for local kids is goin...
Fantastic to see the experts turning up to inspect the 1769 Seed Archive. Malcolm Rutherford, its curator, showing the Garden off to delegates from BGANZ, Bo...
The Wild Lab / Tiaki Taiao wilderness programme for local kids is taking off like a rocket, thanks to Pete and Elle Jarratt. Waikereru is full of their laugh...
Great to welcome the local Farm Forestry group, and share our experience and theirs with the restoration of steep, erodible hill country and its use for carb...
It was a pleasure to host Pär Ahlberger, the Swedish ambassador, to Waikereru. He was fascinated by the 1769 Seed Archive, with its plants collected by Jos...
Great news - our founder Jeremy Salmond has been awarded the NZIA Gold Medal, and the citation includes his design work at Waikereru.
Two exciting, jam-packed community meetings in Gisborne last week to discuss the current state and future of the Waimatā River, followed by an excellent mee...
Many thanks to the Eastland Community Trust for funding an upgrade to our signage and the tracks around the Welcome Shelter.
Pete and Elle Jarratt talking about the Wild Lab with our visitors from Hawkes Bay DOC & Cape to City.
The 1769 Seed Archive is only a couple of years old, but it’s starting to look great!
How exciting. A torrent fish has just been discovered in the Waimatā River by the Gisborne District Council science team - the first of its kind in the catch...
Steve and Tim Salmond were standing on the Waitui bridge at midday when this ruru flew under the bridge and perched on a nearby tree.
Guess who attended the Longbush Ecological Trust AGM last week? Our most ancient member, Kura the Tuatara.
What a team! EIT and YMCA students have restored another long stretch of Donner’s Bush. Great to see the weeds disappearing and the ground cover and lower ca...
Another story about Waikereru / Longbush and the fabulous people who help us to make it such a special place.
We’ve had an exciting time at Waikereru lately, with a visit by Lou Sanson, Director-General of the Department of Conservation. He took this photo of Charles...
Great to see Pete and Elle work their magic in another Wild Lab workshop, this time inspiring local children to engage with the plants in the 1769 Seed Archi...
Such a pleasure to host QEII’s 40th birthday party at the Welcome Shelter, along with many other covenant owners. The 1769 Seed Archive and the Welcome Shelt...
The trustees have decided to change the name of the Ecosanctuary to its original name, Waikereru. The Kereru is our guardian bird, which features on our seal...
After losing a massive Poplar at Longbush, it’s humbling (and slightly worrying) to gaze up at the survivors as they negotiate their personal space and deal ...
Great to host David and Susan Bergin at Longbush, to discuss the possibility of setting up a trial native plantation at Longbush. An exciting prospect.
Pete and Elle Jarratt work their magic with kids, art and the bush. A great art exhibition in Longbush Reserve!
Fantastic fun having the Artefact documentary team shooting at Longbush - with Janine Te Reo and her students at the Pa Harakeke / Rene Orchiston collection.
Clearing the site for the new bridge at the foot of Pa Hill, watched by two curious tomtits - male and female. Looking forward to clutches of baby tomtits at...
Nature takes its course… of course. A poplar gives up the ghost at Longbush - a harbinger of things to come? These trees are showing signs of age and we’re c...
Its great to be working with local researchers Sheridan Gundry, Murray Palmer and Mike Marden, and University of Auckland scientists Dan Hikuroa, Carola Cull...
It was great to welcome the East Coast and Chatham Island Conservation Boards to Longbush lately, including some old friends. Such an enjoyable visit.
This year we’re translocating 16 oi chicks from Young Nick’s Head to the inland colony at Longbush. They’re flourishing, and 6 have already flown off on thei...
The Wild Lab had another workshop at Longbush on Saturday, this time featuring the koura (native crayfish). Pete and Elle Jarratt with Murray Palmer, freshwa...
Give Papa-tuanuku half a chance, and she produces wonders - like these native orchids, discovered by Malcolm Rutherford at Longbush. Thanks to the Clark Trus...
DOC, EIT, Longbush Trust and Riverside Road residents have got together to restore Donner’s Bush. What a brilliant initiative. Hats off to Charles Barrie at ...
Last week Phillip Smith and James Fischer from 02 Landscapes joined Jeremy Salmond and Malcolm Rutherford, Curator at the 1769 Seed Archive, building the sto...
The Wild Lab programme for kids and teachers has kicked off, with Pete and Elle Jarratt running two highly successful workshops at the Ecosanctuary. See this...
Check out Ian Ruru’s fabulous drone video of Longbush!
What a magic summer at Longbush! A kids’ art exhibition with Pete and Elle Jarratt in Longbush Reserve; 11 titi installed in artificial burrows up in the Wai...
Check out the Longbush Alphine Resort - cottage and hills in snow! First time in decades. Ski lift coming soon. (Courtesy Colin McNab)
Philip Smith (landscape designer) and Malcolm Rutherford (QEII) chat as planting of the 1769 Seed Archive gets under way in early June.
Anne and Jeremy’s kiwi namesakes, Ani and Jem, have been found together in their burrow at Whinray Reserve, Motu. According to Steve Sawyer, “Jem is an extre...
Philip Smith of 02 Landscapes has produced this brilliant plan for the 1769 Seed Archive at Longbush, to be planted in front of the Welcome Shelter. This gar...
The Longbush Welcome Shelter has been formally opened by Meng Foon, the Mayor of Gisborne, and is creating a big buzz in architectural circles and in the loc...
After a year of marvellous effort and unstinting, warm-hearted contributions from a wide array of volunteers and sponsors, Sarosh’s master work, the Welcome ...
We’ve just christened the new bridge in Longbush Reserve with the Eastland Institute of Technology carpentry students who built it, and their tutor Ben Steve...
Amy England from Ecoworks just spotted this miromiro (tomtit) in the Waikereru Hills at Longbush - looks as though they may be breeding. Great to have a safe...
Many thanks to Murray Palmer for an excellent report on the freshwater ecosystems at Longbush, which we aim to make a haven in the region for freshwater spec...
Matt Evans and his team at the Eastland Institute of Technology are building this bridge in Longbush Reserve, funded by the Williams Trusts and the Eastern a...
It’s time for an update on the Longbush Welcome Shelter. As we head into winter, preparations are being made at Longbush for the onset of some wetter weather...
Last weekend a host of landscape architects arrived at Longbush, and spent the morning exploring the Ecosanctuary. The Longbush team - Sarosh Mulla, Megan Wr...
Sarosh Mulla and his fabulous team of volunteers have spent the summer break erecting the Welcome Shelter at Longbush - a ground-breaking exercise in collabo...
Dr. Mark Smale of Landcare Research has written an excellent report on the botany of Longbush Ecosanctuary by landform, including the surrounding Protected M...
The Welcome Shelter at the Longbush Ecosanctuary is the brainchild of a remarkable young architect, Sarosh Mulla. Read all about the project here.
Our robin couple, whose courtship is described below, have produced two chicks. Dog Gully Guy now has a family! sFor the first time in 150 years, robin chick...
Another flock of 10 titi took off from Longbush on their journey across the Pacific this Christmas. They are attracted by bright lights, but luckily, decided...
Sarosh Mulla, a PhD student in Architecture at the University of Auckland and a brilliant, award-winning young designer, is designing a Welcome Shelter for L...
Christmas at Longbush this year was special, with long, hot blue days and bursts of rain - the plantings seemed to grow before our eyes! Ten titi chicks fled...
Patsy Matthews from Ecoworks has been forwarding reports from the front line at Longbush, where a female native robin has just been released and teamed up wi...
A few nights ago, Patsy confirmed the presence of long-tailed bats in Longbush Reserve. As they flew around chasing moths, they clicked, using sonar to try ...
Recent flooding of the Waimatā River caused the banks to collapse, and the river turned to liquid mud. As a result, our Chairperson Dame Anne wrote a plea to...
The amazing Ecoworks team have created a world first by establishing and successfully rearing the first inland colony of Titi (grey Petrels). These were tran...
We had an excellent meeting with Andy Bassett, head of the DOC office in Gisborne, to discuss Donner’s Bush, the DOC Scenic Reserve south of Longbush. Donner...