View of Kaipupu Point Sounds Wildlife Sanctuary from Queen Charlotte Sound

Our goal:

To enrich the community through the restoration and guardianship of an indigenous Marlborough Sounds wildlife sanctuary in which the natural ecosystems and native flora and fauna flourish in a predator-free environment that can be appreciated by all.The Society has a passionate Management Committee of nine people from the local community. Two of those appointments come from the Port Company and the Department of Conservation. The current Committee Members are:

There is a strong and active group of field workers, who are always looking for more enthusiasts to join them.

Our Key Volunteers who lead the way in getting things done on Kaipupu are:

• Vince Cowie – Field Work
• Paul Mann – Field Work
• Dave Nichols – Field Work
• Paul Leeds – Field Work
• Reg Dawkins – Honarary Timekeeper in Perpetuity

What is Kaipupu ?

Kaipupu Point is the name of a roughly circular headland poking out from Picton.

Look for it next time you come on the ferry into Picton, you sail right beside it.

The headland is almost an island physically. The connection with the mainland is low and flat, with a rising slope forming a pyrimid like hill. A pest-proof fence has already been built across the connection to the mainland prevent pests like possums, stoats, rats and cats getting into the sanctuary. This fence effectively isolates the headland from the rest of the mainland. The Sanctuary area is mostly gently sloped, but it has some tricky steeper areas. At the very top is 155 metres above sea level – which mean there are great views of the intricate waterways of the Sounds from the top. The shore around the headland is generally rocky, with a couple of small gravel beaches. On one of these beaches, in Dolphin Bay, the Kaipupu jetty is now being built. This should be complete by December 2011. This will make a huge difference to access to the Sanctuary. The next step will be constructing tracks.

About 2/3 of the land is designated Kaipupu Point Scenic Reserve, administered by the Department of Conservation. The rest, on the landward side and SE flank, is owned by Port Marlborough NZ Ltd.

Trees, shrubs, scrub, ferns and more

The original cover of  native forest is largely gone although a few pockets of beautiful big trees (mainly hard beech, black beech, kamahi and tawa) remain on the the shady southeasterly flank of the reserve and on the nothern side. The clearance may have begun in Maori times and would certainly have been completed following European settlement, because land for timber and farming was in great demand. This headland (as in most of the Sounds) was probably farmed for many decades. Now, and with our help, it’s fast regenerating back to lush native bush. The humid mild climate and relatively fertile soil is a bonus, and accelerates this process. Behind the predator proof fence we can now find a dense forest of five-finger, mahoe, akeake, and kanuka, with a wealth of shrubs and ferns enjoying their opportunity to grow beneath the canopy. The regeneration process has been slowed in places by the presence of wilding pines and other weeds, but with our steady managment to eradicate wilding pines and controlling other weeds, the resulting lush native vegetation is exciting.

So dense is the undergrowth in most places that is already feels like an offshore island!

There are various weeds always growing, as the Sanctuary is close to residential gardens and industrial activity, and these seeds go where the wind blows. The worst ecological weeds present include gorse, old man’s beard, banana passionfruit and wilding pines. This is where out volunteers have lots of work before them.

The Future is bright!

Already in good ecological condition, it is getting better as regeneration progresses. The vegetation is doing a good job of holding the erodible hillsides together, and provides valuable habitat for native birds as well as other small animals like lizards and invertebrates.

It provides an ideal opportunity for a ‘mainland’ island ecosystem restoration: it is has been relatively easy to physically isolate by the construction of a predator prooof fence as a barrier to pests, it is compact and a manageable size to be ecologically restored and maintained, and it already has much of the required natural ecosystem structure in place.

Possums, cats, rats and stoats are probably the main animal threats to Kaipupu, and with the pest proof fence and ongoing monitoring and trapping, and a lot of hard work they can be eradicated and then kept out permanently. Possums are threats to both the vegetation, and to birds and other native fauna, through competition for food resources, as well as predators of birds nests. Cats, rats and stoats are all very effective predators, and many of our native birds are easy prey. After eradication, bird life will flourish.

With “mainland island” management, Kaipupu Point will become a significant showpiece of nature restoration right on Picton’s doorstep.