The Matariki Weekend working bees at Kopua-riki brought together a generous community of volunteers for two days of planting, maintenance and care for the habitat restoration project. Volunteers contributed 213 hours and helped plant 1,700 trees.
Kopua-riki sits beside the Manawatū River near Our Lady of the Southern Star Abbey at Kopua, on a small remnant of the once vast 70 Mile Bush, Te Tapere Nui o Whatonga. The Kopua Habitat Restoration Project is a long-term effort to restore this 13–15 hectare area as a thriving native habitat, where ecological care, faith and community action come together.
Since 2022, volunteers and supporters have worked to remove invasive weeds, establish traplines, plant eco-sourced native trees, develop walking tracks and monitor birdlife. The wider vision is that, in generations to come, visitors will again encounter a flourishing native forest alive with birdsong, including a future Rongoā Hikoi pathway and a memorial forest honouring Suzanne Aubert, Merī Hohepa.
Alongside the planting, volunteers checked the trapline, refurbished seating around some of the walkways, and collected seeds for future propagation from a locally known kōwhai tree that produces especially colourful yellow flowers. The weekend also included practical work to support the next stage of the site’s care, with donated wool mats ready to help protect young trees from tall grass and ongoing efforts planned to manage weeds such as Spanish broom, honeysuckle, hawthorn and blackberry.
Planting a recently cleared area of tall blackberry on Matariki Weekend
This Matariki marked an important milestone: the restoration phase of the project is now drawing to a close. While more planting will still take place, the focus is shifting from large-scale planting to the ongoing maintenance of a healthy and growing habitat. Future working bees will concentrate on gap-filling, weed control, track safety, and protecting the trees already planted.
A special thank you goes to all who gave their time and energy over Matariki, and to Mabes Munday, Mary Eastham and Anthony Kriechbaum for the many hours of food preparation that helped sustain the volunteers throughout the weekend.
Photo: Richard and Callum were able to find precious kowhai seeds for future propagation.
All are warmly invited to the next working bee, on Saturday 29 August, 9.30am – 3pm. The focus will be placing weed-suppressing mats and daggy wool around small trees, especially around Alberics Way, as well as clearing rubbish piles and spraying a protein repellent over young trees.
Please register for catering purposes by midday Tuesday 25 August by emailing stonem@xtra.co.nz.
Matariki 2026 group photo
Photos provided by Mike Stone.