Mason Hills Forever Forest

 
A view of the mountains and regenerating forest at Mason Hills in Canterbury

A mighty win for native forest in Kaikōura, Canterbury

A whopping 1,500 hectares of grassland has been retired from grazing and is reverting to native bush. This massive increase in native vegetation will protect waterways and create more biodiversity. This Forever Forest is a mixture of mature and regenerating native forest areas.

  • Approximately 50% of this forest contains mature native forest areas.

  • This will supply the seed source to enable future reversion alongside supplementary planting by the landowners.

  • Preserving this native forest improves the water quality of nearby rivers and coastal waters.

The Mason Hills Forever Forest project has been supported by Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service through the One Billion Trees Programme. This programme provided support to retire neighbouring grazed areas and undertook fencing to protect native forest areas.

This forest feeds directly into a significant-sized river in the Hurunui region, and the retirement of this land and regeneration of native bush will directly result in improved water quality of nearby streams and rivers. This property's improved fencing and pest control will mean significant expansion and growth of the regenerating native forest areas.

 
Charli BatesonComment