Thanks to generous donations by members of the Leigh Harbour Valley Society, we were able to engage the services of a team of abseiler/contractors to remove wilding pines from the Leigh Scenic Reserve coastal walkway. This area is Department of Conservation land and they provided us with consent to remove the wilding pines that were less than 3M tall.

Unfortunately our joint application with the Leigh Community Club for funding to remove the larger wilding pines was unsuccessful. These pines pose a health and safety issue, particularly those on the unstable cliff edges. The larger trees will also continue to disperse seeds onto the coastal walkway, creating an ongoing battle. The two main species present are Pinus Pinaster and Pinus Radiata.

We will continue to investigate funding avenues to get rid of these pines.

Kathryn Erikson

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Keith Paine and Chris Wadsworth spent 22 volunteer hours working in the valley on Monday 19 July and Tuesday 20 July. As can be seen from the before and after photographs, they cleared a number of weeds streamside. The first day was spent at the top of the catchment area on the Aiken’s property. The next day they carried out follow-up weeding on the Harvey’s property.

On Sunday 25 July, Jan Sinclair and a group of LHVS volunteers helped to split sedges and plant them in the cleared areas. Errol Albon cleared a number of fallen trees using his chainsaw. Unfortunately there was an absolute downpour the following night (over 60mm). The stream was raging and the harbour was chocolate brown. One of our traps was washed a considerable distance downstream and the force of the water damaged it beyond repair. At this stage we have not viewed the storm damage but hope not too many plants were lost.

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