Recently the Kaiteriteri Mountain Bike Park received a grant from the Top of the South Community Foundation to assist them in carrying out environmental projects on Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve.

Run by a voluntary committee since 2010, they have enabled access to thousands of locals and tourists to the area, encouraging families and youth to be involved in all aspects of the Park.

The committee organises working bees to maintain and build tracks and, importantly, focus on the environmental health of the Recreation Reserve. Their work also includes training MTB track builders, running events and fundraising. Doing all they can to encourage people to enjoy the MTB park (including walkers) and, importantly, ways to take care of the environment.

The ongoing environmental focus has three elements – removing wilding pines, trapping, and tree planting.

Michael Brewer takes responsibility for the Wilding Pine programme. “The Recreation Reserve is a mixture of remnant and regenerating native bush (including stands of old rimu) and areas of wilding pines. To support the regeneration of this important area of native bush, we are trialling the removal of wilding pines,” said Michael. “Close to tracks, this can be done by chainsaw and in more isolated areas through poisoning, under supervision from DOC. Eco-sourced natives will then be planted to speed up regeneration, with a focus on gullies initially which are unfrequented and have the richest biodiversity.”

Rod Markham is the Trapping Coordinator who is focused on pest eradication. He said a team of volunteer trappers reset traps every month.
“Broken traps need to be replaced regularly, and we are extending the trapline to cover new areas of track development. The trapline prevents rats from the campgrounds entering the native bush and protects many species of fauna.”