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Past Restoration Projects

On this page you can view the historical successes we have had with our restoration planting projects. This includes our successful funding applications and the different projects that have been completed with the grants that were awarded.

2025

Our 2025 planting work was facilitated by a grant from Greater Wellington Regional Council and focused on the foreshore and intertidal zone at Ivey Bay on the south western side of the Inlet. Volunteers planted 250 sea rushes (Juncus kraussii) and about 250 trees and shrubs, including kawakawa (Piper excelsum), five finger (Psuedipanax arboreus), kanuka (Kunzea ericoides), and whairangi (Melicope ternata).

Volunteers planted two areas. The first was an extension of the existing saltmarsh planting around the Ivey Bay shoreline. Earlier plantings in this area had taken root well and were spreading naturally, so volunteers added a new section along the shore. 

The second area the steep hillside along the road boundary north of the kindergarten. This site had been overrun with weeds, shrubs, and wattle trees. Porirua City Council had already cleared much of this invasive growth, and the June planting day was the next step in replacing it with native species. 

The new rushes are already visible from the road, and the new trees and shrubs will slowly grow over the next couple of years, becoming visible from the footpath along SH58, above the kindergarten.

We acknowledge the support for this planting from:

·      Greater Wellington Regional Council, for providing the funds

·      Porirua City Council, for providing the rushes and logistical support

·      The volunteers, for doing the planting.

2020-2024

In August 2020 the Minister of Conservation announced the results of the 2020 DOC Community Fund Applications. GOPI was awarded the sum of $41,989 for our project on Inlet Planting.

The focus of the project was a three-year plan to restore the poorly vegetated buffers at key sites around the Inlet and to re-establish saltmarsh and other species on the beach margins. Adding more vital saltmarsh (Juncus krausii) to the Inlet ecosystem is critical to Inlet ecosystem health – it fuels some 60% of the food chain.  The saltmarsh and other plants also provide much needed protection to bird-feeding and breeding areas and help reduce some of the pollutants from road traffic and other sources entering the Inlet. 

Porirua City Council was a key supporter, with PCC resources used to implement the project, and we worked with Ngati Toa Rangatira and other community organisations on some of the plantings. Its success was also due to the strong support and help from Porirua City Council, especially Nigel Clarke, former Council Manager – Harbour and Resource Recovery.

The plan covered:

      • Establishing saltmarsh restoration areas;
      • Buffer plantings to protect feeding and breeding sites for coastal birds using key plant species, eg: Apodasmia similis (oioi/jointed wire rush), Plagianthus divaricatus (saltmarsh ribbonwood) and Juncus kraussii (i.e Juncus maritimus — sea rush);
      • Weed control and restoration plantings in ecologically important sites;
      • Predator trapping on the perimeter of planted sites to protect coastal bird species and encourage gecko and skink habitat; predator trap counts to be added to the national database through PredatorFree.org;
      • Monitoring the success of all buffer and restoration plantings, weed control measures and the numbers of predators in the area;
      • Bird monitoring, undertaken by the Ornithological Society (this will supply information on the long-term outcomes of the project).


The project resulted in the following areas being successfully planted:

      • Motukaraka Point 23/1/21
      • Browns Bay 2/7/22
      • Camborne Walkway 2/7/22
      • Ivey Bay 20/11/22
      • Browns Bay 30/09/2023
      • Ivey Bay 24/06/2024

Here you can download a full report on the outcomes of this project.