NZ Forest Owners and Eastland Woodland Council visit
It was great to welcome the national Environment Committee for the Forest Owners’ Association, and the Eastland Woodland Council to Waikereru recently to tal...
Welcome to Waikereru - an Ark in the Bush. Waikereru is a haven for rare and endangered species of indigenous birds, plants and animals. It is reached by a winding gravel road up an inland valley, just 9 kilometres from Gisborne city on the Tai Rawhiti / East Coast of New Zealand.
From high hill ridges to the west, three streams tumble down steep valleys and across a plain, entering the Waimatā River to the east. A rare surviving strip of lowland bush (Longbush Reserve) runs beside the Waimatā River. The bush is alive with the sound of birds, including tui, bellbirds, fantails, kingfishers, tomtits, whiteheads and many kereru or native pigeons.
Waikereru is a hub for ecological innovation. Its visionary projects include:
- The Wild Lab Tiaki Taiao wilderness programme for local children
- The Tuia 1769 Seed Archive, featuring rare and endangered plants from Tairāwhiti
- The Seed Island project to speed up the restoration of biodiverse natural forest in erodible hill country.
It also helped to inspire:
- The Waimatā River restoration project
- The ‘Let the River Speak’ Marsden research programme
- ‘Recloaking Papatūanuku’, a project to restore 2 million ha of indigenous forest across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Nau mai, haere mai!
Visiting Waikereru
Waikereru is on land owned by Dame Anne and Jeremy Salmond. Longbush Reserve is open to the public – access is on the right, opposite 910 Riverside Road.
Waikereru (including the Welcome Shelter and 1769 Seed Archive) can be visited by arrangement – please contact us at [email protected]. Access is on the left, at 846 Riverside Road.
We treat the Ecosanctuary like a marae – visitors are very welcome, but the trustees need to know you’re coming! The Waikereru Hills are actively managed, with trapping and shooting. For health and safety reasons, access is by specific arrangement only.
As visitors, please note you’re responsible for your own health and safety. Stay on the tracks, be careful around electric fences, traps and streams, and take care of our precious bush.
Here’s a chant for Waikereru, composed by Merimeri Penfold:
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2024
Seed Island Story - Gisborne Herald
Nice story about the seed island project in the Gisborne Herald. Great to have so much local support for this experiment.
Stockyard Creek 20 years on
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...
New Pest and Weed Management Plans
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
Kereru stripping a kowhai in front of Motukeo
Cyclone Gabrielle cleanup continues
Helicopter hauling logs out of the Waimatā river at Waikereru - cleanup after Cyclone Gabrielle:
O2 Landscapes: 1769 Seed Archive
Great to see this story about the 1769 Seed Archive from Phillip Smith, 02 Landscapes, with glorious photos by Malcolm Rutherford.
Waikereru in 1988
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.
Pest Free NZ Workshop
It was great to welcome Pest Free NZ and their ‘state-of-the-art’ trapping workshop to Waikereru.
Te Wharau School visit
Te Wharau school students standing on Pā Hill and looking at Motukeo, ancestral mountain and leaping off place of spirits.
Claude Glass Magic
The Claude Glass works its magic - planting Puriri for Jem, April 2024.
Mayor meets Kereru at the Wild Lab / Tiaki Taiao
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 on Restor
Waikereru has been added to the Restor online map of international restoration projects. Restor is an exciting global project that records data from ecologi...
Inspiring TED talk
Check out this inspiring Ted Talk about how indigenous forest restoration can help us save the future for our children and grandchildren.
Seed Islands going from strength to strength
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...
2023
Carnivorous snail found!
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...
1769 Seed Archive glorious in the mist
Malcolm Rutherford took these shots of the 1769 Seed Archive in the mist, looking glorious - kereru everywhere.
How much carbon is stored in Kew’s trees?
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...
Wild Lab Tiaki Taiao is up and running again!
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 ...
Call to end clear-fell harvesting on erosion-prone land
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 ...
RNZ report: Matthew Rosenberg in Gisborne
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 ...
Waimatā catchment devastated
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...
Farewell to Jeremy
A very sad start to 2023.