Volunteers from Langs Beach CoastCare Group have been working at Langs Beach for several years, aiming to restore the dunes and improve their resistance to erosion and weather events.

On Friday 7 June Langs Beach CoastCare, NRC CoastCare, Weed Action, Piroa Conservation Trust and community volunteers came together to spend the morning weeding and planting the dunes with native plants. The dune restoration work is slowly and steadily, over the course of years, improving the dune environment. The dunes are recovering well from recent weather events, including the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle, with plants re-establishing themselves in areas impacted by the cyclone and other storms.

Plants for the planting day were provided by NRC CoastCare and the volunteers were particularly pleased to be planting spinifex and wiwi grown at the Waipu Waters Community Nursery. The nursery is a community project, established in 2022 by Waipu Waters working with Piroa Conservation Trust. It grows native riparian plants for the banks of Waipu’s rivers and streams and sand-binding plants for the dunes.

NRC Councillor Rick Stolwerk was at the working bee, making new fences for the dunes.

He has been involved with the Langs Beach dune restoration work since the beginning and said; “It was fantastic to see so many dedicated volunteers from the Langs Beach community on the day. We made good progress with weeding, planting and fencing, with many new plants in the dunes and new fencing to protect the planted areas.

I’ve been volunteering with Langs Beach CoastCare group for eight years and would encourage anyone interested in protecting and preserving Te Taitokerau’s beautiful beaches and coastline to get involved in their local group. It’s a great way to meet members of your local community and to contribute to important mahi for our environment.”

Watch Graeme Wickham of Langs Beach CoastCare talk about the planting day, his involvement and the progress made in protecting the dunes at Langs Beach.

For more information on CoastCare and how to get involved go to: www.nrc.govt.nz/coastcare