Sites of historic and natural significance stretching across the district are among 11 projects granted financial assistance from the latest Kāpiti Coast District Council Heritage Fund.

The Heritage Fund supports landowners and the Kāpiti Coast community to manage, protect and enhance ecological, geological, historical and cultural sites throughout the district. This year the Council’s Grants Allocation Sub-committee allocated $36,154 towards the projects.

"Heritage places are important in shaping the character of the Kāpiti Coast, and protecting them for future generations,” says Councillor and Grants Allocation Committee Chair Jackie Elliott. They are part of what makes Kāpiti unique.”

“The tenacious and selfless mahi (work) done by property owners and trusts across Kāpiti to restore and protect our rare natural wetlands and forests is truly visionary and very much appreciated, as is the work done to protect our heritage buildings, like the Telegraph Hotel in Ōtaki.”

The 11 projects benefitting from the fund are:

118 Waterfall Rd, Paraparaumu: Waterfall Bush Rd landowners of the 17.3ha heritage bush-remnant site have received financial support to protect and restore its native biodiversity, including native plant, insect, lizard and bird populations.

State Highway 1, Ōtaki: This heritage management project will control pest plants and animals in Haruātai Forest, the second biggest swamp forest remnant in the district after Nga Manu-Jacks Bush. The remnant is a taonga of local iwi, and is used as an outdoor classroom by Te Wananga O Raukawa students.

1400 Ōtaki Gorge Road, Ōtaki: Funding will assist the control of pest animals and weeds on a 125ha bush block on the edge of Tararua Forest Park. This block is a valuable part of an evolving ‘mountains to the sea’ ecological corridor that has the potential to link the wilderness of the Tararua Ranges to Kāpiti Island via the Ōtaki River, providing a safe habitat for many native bird species.

234 Te Hapua Road, Te Horo: The previous owners of 234 Te Hapua Road spent more than a decade restoring the 4.1ha wetland on their property. The new owners are not only continuing restoration but also increasing the wetland’s size by retiring adjacent land from grazing and planting native wetland species. Protected by a QE II Trust covenant, the wetland is part of the regionally significant swamp and is considered one of the best and largest remaining examples on the Kāpiti Coast.

7 Morrison Road, Te Horo: The landowner is removing invasive plants and planting native trees to restore the margins of the Te Hapua wetland. This will enhance the 0.5ha wetland and provide 1ha of complementary dune forest habitat for native plants and animals.

34 Leinster Avenue, Raumati South: the funding will be used to save a large, protected kahikatea tree which is being threatened by a faster growing and larger Australian blackwood.

58 Hadfield Road, Peka Peka: Landowners of a site near the Waikanae Scenic Reserve will use the funds to reposition stock fences to provide protective buffer-planting around the forest’s edges, and control weeds and pest animals such as rabbits, possums, stoats and rats.

Telegraph Hotel, 284 Rangiuru Road, Ōtaki: Since opening in 1872, the Telegraph Hotel in Ōtaki has been an important social hub and business in the town for more than 125 years, and is a listed heritage property in the Kāpiti Coast District Plan. The owners have undertaken a major refurbishment since 2011 and will use the funds to re-roof the building in time for its 150th anniversary in 2022.

121 Amohia Street, Paraparaumu: The property owner has received funding for an arborist to protect two notable trees on their property – a rimu and magnolia (Magnolia grandifolia).

313 Reikorangi Road, Waikanae: The owners of the farm at 313 Reikorangi Road, Waikanae, are conservationists who have a 13ha area of bush on their property protected by QE II Trust covenant, which forms part of the Waikanae River catchment. Their funded project entails fencing and planting a wetland in a steep gully to protect the native trees and plants there.

74 Nga Manu Reserve Road, Waikanae: The Ngā Manu Trust has received support from the Heritage Fund to produce and install large information signs that will detail the biology and ecology of a little-known and threatened native plant the plant, Dactylanthus taylorii / Pua ō te Reinga. 

Find out more about the Heritage Fund: www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/our-district/the-kapiti-coast/heritage/

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