Kūkūwai Reserve Ecological Restoration
Community-ledrestorationin action
Community-led restoration in action
As a flagship project, KNECT and project partner Kawatiri Coastal Trail together have led the restoration of 4ha of Kūkūwai Scenic Reserve, a remnant kahikatea forest and saltmarsh ecosystem within the Buller River delta.
Working alongside schools, community groups, landowners, partner organisations and individuals, the project has already seen more than 15,000 native seedlings planted and maintained alongside the Kawatiri Coastal Trail since 2023.
What began as community planting of a degraded wetland previously used for rough grazing has now grown into a much larger, broader and nationally significant vision across a 14,000-hectare landscape: Kawatiri ki Tōtara – Community in Nature, spanning between the Buller Kawatiri and Tōtara River.
The landscape supports 16 of Aotearoa’s most threatened species and ecosystems across remnant habitats woven through productive land and settlements — an increasingly rare situation in New Zealand. Through coordinated restoration, predator control and improved habitat connectivity, the project aims to help halt species decline and support breeding populations of species such as great spotted kiwi and Australasian bittern, while strengthening the relationship between community and nature across the wider region.
Since 2020, community groups and landowners have collectively contributed more than $1.2 million in voluntary investment, including restoration planting, predator control, ecological monitoring, fencing, weed and wasp control, and habitat protection works. The initiative now includes more than 1,000 rat and stoat traps and 20 feral cat cages, over 25,000 native plants and almost 4.5km of fencing protecting forests and wetlands.
The progress to date demonstrates the power of coordinated, community-led environmental restoration at scale, bringing together ecological restoration, community leadership and Te Ao Māori perspectives to support long-term environmental resilience.
KNECT Trustee Di Rossiter says
“Importantly, the larger vision leverages the extraordinary groundwork and collective effort already invested to date by our community groups and landowners in the area, and in time it will drive protection and restoration of some of Aotearoa’s most threatened species, ecosystems and taonga.”
Questions and Answers
The reserve contains one of the region’s remaining lowland kahikatea swamp forest and saltmarsh ecosystems. These environments are increasingly rare in Aotearoa and play an important role in biodiversity protection, water quality, flood mitigation and long-term ecosystem resilience.
The 4ha of grazing land was acquired by Department of Conservation under the Nature Heritage Fund.
The project has involved collaboration between KNECT, local schools, landowners, iwi, community volunteers, environmental groups and partner organisations. More than five local schools and numerous community groups and individuals have participated in planting and restoration activities.
Kūkūwai Reserve forms part of the wider Kawatiri ki Tōtara: Community in Nature initiative — a long-term community-led restoration vision spanning approximately 14,000 hectares between the Buller and Tōtara Rivers. The project supports collective guardianship of the environment through ecological restoration, predator control, habitat protection, education and community participation.
The project supports long-term environmental resilience across Buller Kawatiri through habitat restoration, wetland protection, biodiversity recovery and community-led environmental stewardship. It also contributes to flood mitigation, ecological connectivity and protection of threatened species and ecosystems.