Native Trees & Plants
Help us protect and enhance
our beautiful urban ngahere
Native trees and plants are an essential part of our environment. New Zealand has a wide array of weird, wonderful and unique natives, with more than 80% of our plant species being endemic and found nowhere else in the world. Kaipātiki has its own special range of native plants that are naturally found here. Most of the area was formerly kauri forest and we are fortunate that remnants of this unique ecosystem remain today.
Every plant plays multiple roles within our environment. They feed and shelter our native animals, clean our air and water, stabilise soil, support our mental health, shelter us from excessive heat and UV and they even save us money through flood mitigation and the direct and indirect health benefits they provide. We are very proud of the fact that Kaipātiki has the highest urban tree coverage (32% in 2013) of any Local Board area in Auckland and we believe that healthy trees help create a healthy community.
Our trees give us so much and have the potential to provide for generations to come, but they are increasingly under threat. Urban intensification, climate change and pests all have negative impacts. While we love planting new trees, and encourage everyone to join us in doing this, our large mature trees are more significant to our community and environment than a newly planted sapling - and we would love to see them protected.
What Can I Do to Help to Protect Our Trees?
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Leave old, mature trees standing. Large trees are important habitats for many of our native species, and many can’t survive without them. Big, gnarly, old trees are particularly important as they provide hollows for nests and roosts. Good perching spots also bring in birds like kereru, which help with seed disperse and natural regeneration. Even a dead standing tree can provide habitat for wildlife.
We have seen a huge loss of big trees since general tree protection laws were removed and this impacts how much wildlife our remaining trees can support. -
Learn more about native flora in your backyard and local reserves! Join us on one of our guided walks or free workshops to learn more about what we're protecting, why we're protecting them and how to protect them. Knowledge is power!
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Join one of our volunteer events. We carry out tree plantings during winter and during the rest of the year we hold guided walks, workshops and tree care events. Have a look at our event calendar to see what’s coming up or contact us to ask about volunteering.
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Learn the right questions to ask and information to seek to safely replant slip sites. Read PFK's guide on slip restoration, native plant selection and seed collection:
Guide: Native Plant Revegetation for Slip Stabilisation
What are Some Other Tips to Look After Our Trees?
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Trap those pests! Possums and rats both damage our trees (as well as our birds). They can eat huge amounts of foliage, flowers, fruit and seeds in a night. Trapping pests has an immediate positive impact on our native trees, and the more people who do it, the wider the benefit.
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Give them a mulch blanket. If you have trees outside the bush on your property make sure they are healthy by giving them a good mulch twice a year and watering them during hot, dry conditions. This goes for street trees too! Trees growing in the bush will have a natural mulch of leaf litter and shouldn’t need anything extra.
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Control the weeds. Weeds will compete with native trees for nutrients and light and often grow much faster, meaning that they can smother them. Controlling invasive weeds is a great way to help native plants thrive.
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Stay on track. Walking off track, or letting your pets wander off track, damages undergrowth and seedlings and makes the soil more compact. This can have a big impact on the health of the surrounding trees. Walking off track can also spread kauri dieback, which is a grave threat to our magnificent kauri trees and currently has no cure. Staying on track and keeping pets on track protects the health of all of our trees.
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Nominate notable trees. A notable tree is a tree that the community regards as having special importance, for example commemorating important events, being critical to the survival of other animals or plant species, or are of an age, stature or character that they are regarded as best in the area. A notable tree has greater legal protection and cannot be cut down without resource consent. Read more about how to nominate a notable tree here.