Burnt in the 2019 Pigeon Valley fire in Tasman, native vegetation in Teapot Valley is being restored through the efforts of a restoration project primarily funded by Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service and Tasman Pine Forests Ltd.

The restoration work by Tasman District Council and its contractors began in 2021 and has focussed on hillslope areas where the forest was most affected by the fire, and on weed-dominated riparian and wetland areas.

As the project wraps up, Project Manager Fiona Ede is happy with what has been achieved, and excited about the extensive natural regeneration of native species across the site that will support the ongoing restoration of Teapot Valley over the coming decades.

The primary aim of the project was to initiate restoration of forest and wetland communities, particularly by increasing connections between remaining remnants through replanting and weed control.

The project has planted 33,192 native trees, shrubs and wetland grasses, and undertaken weed control across 44 ha of the site.

Through these restoration efforts, we have improved ecosystem health and resilience across the site:

• Forested gullies once separated by burnt hillslopes are now reconnected through planting and the natural regeneration of native species;
• Intact forest remnants have been protected by removing large old man’s beard vines;
• In wetlands, areas cleared of weeds are now flourishing with native species;
• Riparian areas have been cleared of large exotic trees and replanted with native species.

The restoration project also provided the opportunity to take an experimental approach to some aspects of the work.

Fiona says she wanted to learn more about what species would regenerate naturally after fire, and designed a trial to assess regeneration on the burnt hillslopes.

"Six years post-fire, we found 44 native tree and shrub species regenerating, including māhoe, coprosma species, kānuka, tōtara and three species of beech, with about 33,000 plants regenerating per hectare.

"A second trial tested whether it was possible to establish native species by direct seeding – sowing seed directly into areas cleared of weeds.

"As an alternative revegetation technique to planting, direct seeding can be a much cheaper option. At Teapot Valley, we found that karamū (Coprosma robusta), mānuka and cabbage tree (tī kōuka) all established well from directly sown seed."

Information from the project is available in reports and fact sheets at www.tasman.govt.nz, search 'teapot'.

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