Landscape concept plan for afforestation of lowland Waikato hill country reserve

Project Status: Completed

The 38ha Sainsbury Road Recreational Reserve is on the lower eastern slopes of Mount Pirongia in the Waikato. The reserve was leased out for grazing, but much of the land was too steep and reverting to gorse. The local community objected to a plan to plant it all in exotic forestry, and the Waipa District Council engaged Tāne’s Tree Trust trustee, Paul Quinlan, to consult with the local community, including adjacent landowners and interested groups, and come up with a concept plan for a multiple purpose, multi-use management plan.

The result integrates native afforestation with pastoral areas, and enhances recreational values such as bike trails, horse riding, picnic areas, and retains great views across the Hamilton basin.

Part of the proposal is to create demonstration forests of planted and managed indigenous timber species, to complement other areas of native forest on the reserve where conservation and recreational values are the priorities. But it also retains some grazing and open space too. The design illustrates an approach to land use planning that results in a ‘mosaic-like’ pattern of integrated land uses and multiple values, rather than a single purpose outcome.

This concept plan has been adopted and is now awaiting Council funding and implementation.

The adopted concept plan can be viewed on the link below.