The ribbon has been cut on a new accessible walkway that weaves through wetlands which have recently been restored from paddocks.
Initially volunteer run and funded, the walkway, which circles over the Waitākere River, was picked up by the government’s Jobs for Nature campaign, an initiative started as part of the Covid-19 recovery plan.
En route to Bethells Beach in West Auckland, the Matuku Link is 37 hectares of wetland and native bush, which used to be and paddocks inhabited by horses, until locals stepped in and gave it an environmental makeover.
The new walkway that weaves through was purpose built to be accessible – allowing wheelchair users, prams and buggies to be part of the conservation effort.
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Matuku Link founder and trustee John Sumich said even the loss and degradation of a small area of wetland, through drainage, filling or pollution, was another nail readied for its coffin.
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Minister for Conservation Poto Williams cut the flax ribbon to open the new walkway through the wetlands.
Sumich pleaded for more resources to provide for more wetlands.
“We hope that the call of the Matuku doesn’t enter the shades,” he said.
If that occurred then at least it might be time for a new competition: extinct bird of the year, Sumich said.
Minister for Conservation and Disability Issues Poto Williams, at the flax ribbon cutting ceremony, said the Covid-19 pandemic taught us two things – that we were social people and that we needed the outdoors.
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More than 10,000 plants have been used in the re-vegetation of the area.
The work at Matuku link allowed a wide range of people to be involved in conservation efforts, she said.
“As I look around the gathering here today, this is the perfect example of many people coming together to protect a biodiversity hotspot”.
Trustee Chad Wilkie said it was important to give people access – we needed to share the environment, the wetlands and the bush beyond.
The new track stretched around and through the bush for around a one-and-a-half kilometres, allowing those in a wheelchair or using a walking stick to experience what everyone else could experience readily, he said.
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The walkway is purposely built to be accessible by all, so everyone can take part in the conservation effort.
As part of the project, trees and ponds have been created and now form a habitat for the rare native duck pāteke (brown teal).
The link started in 2016, when four trustees fund-raised and bought the 37-hectare property for just over $2 million.
Run by volunteers until 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic eventually shut down all work and business visits to the property.
Funding through the Jobs for Nature programme was found for four people to continue the planting, weeding and track building.
