Pathside flora


We are always interested in the type, density and health of vegetation along the edges of the Native Plant Trail, its ongoing development, and the habitat it provides. Its low-impact design, defined only by spade-cut banks on the uphill side and intermittently-replaced decaying logs on the other, is a particularly valuable refuge for lizards, invertebrates, ferns, mosses, lichens and fungi.

The health of the stream and forest depend on the survival of forest trees to create and maintain a complete canopy. There are very few tall trees here, even fewer of them native, and what canopy there is mostly by smaller trees.

The juvenile trees most likely to survive to adulthood alongside paths are those arising a metre or more from the path, so that the regular path maintenance schedule is sufficient to prune them before Reserve users indiscriminately damage or destroy them to maintain a clear space for walking and running.

We note throughout the lower part of the site that the most native seedlings arise directly behind the timberpath edging, where leaf litter and woody debris collect, creating ideal conditions for seedling development.

During survey we frequently moved fallen branches and leaves to create these conditions about .5-1m back from the path edge, and if funding permits continuation of monitoring we will observe the effect of this, and the fate of previously-observed native tree seedlings and juveniles rooted both just behind the timber edging, and further back.

Currently-indexed observations of pathside flora are mostly upstream , in the Trial Zone area (Zones Bd-Fb) and can be seen here.

Publicado el septiembre 29, 2019 03:32 MAÑANA por kaipatiki_naturewatch kaipatiki_naturewatch

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