The Society

The Society was established in 2005 and incorporated in 2006. The inaugural Trustees were selected by an appointments committee comprising representatives of key stakeholders and on an ongoing annual basis, elected at the annual general meeting.

The Society has a Management Committee of nine with two of those appointments coming from the Port Company and the Department of Conservation. The current Committee Members are:

We also have a strong volunteer group. Our volunteer co-ordinators are:

• Jennie Wells and Tania Cowie

Our Team Leaders - those who have stepped up to take ownership of a particular task on Kaipupu are:

• Vince Cowie
• Paul Mann
• Dave Nichols

The Land

Kaipupu Point is a roughly circular headland between Shakespeare Bay and Picton Harbour, at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound. It is almost an island physically. It has a pronounced hill, from which the land slopes away in all directions. The connection with the mainland is low and flat, lending itself to the construction of a pest-proof fence, which is currently in place. The land is mostly moderate to steep in slpe and rises from the sea to 155 metres. The shore is generally rocky, but has a couple of small gravel beaches, particularly on the NW flank.

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.

Vegetation

The original cover of dense native forest is largely gone; just a few pockets of big trees (mainly hard beech, black beech, kamahi and tawa) remain on the the shady SE flank of the reserve and on nothern spurs. The clearance may have begun in Maori times. It would certainly have been completed following European settlement, in the quest for timber and pastoral farmland. The land (as in most of the Sounds) was probably farmed for many decades. Now, much the headland is regenerating rapidly back to native bush. The humid mild climate and relatively fertile soil encourages this process. Most of it is now dense forest of five-finger, mahoe, akeake, and kanuka, with a wealth of shrubs and ferns beneath the canopy. The regeneration process has been complicated in places by the presence of wilding pines and other weeds. With the steady managment regime of felling the pines and controlling other weeds, lush native vegetation regeneration is the result. So dense is the undergrowth in most places that is already feels like an offshore island.

There are various weeds, as a result of the proximity to residential gardens and industrial activity. The worst ecological weeds present include gorse, old man’s beard, banana passionfruit and wilding pines.

The Future

The headland is in good ecological condition, despite having been heavily modified in the past. 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 and other small animals (lizards and invertebrates).

It provides an ideal opportunity for a ‘mainland’ island; it is easy to physically isolate and defend from pests, it is compact and of a size to be readily ecologically restored and maintained. It already has much of the required natural ecosystem structure in place, and it is very close to a community and visitor source of interest.

Possums, deer, rats and stoats are probably the main animal threats to Kaipupu, and with management they could be controlled at very low levels. Possums are threats to both the vegetation, and to birds and other native fauna, through competition for food resources, as well as their role as predators at birds nests. As well as possums, if other predators such as stoats, cats, rats and hedgehogs are controlled as well, the bird, lizard and invertebrate life will benefit immensely.

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