Restoring one of Canterbury’s original matai tree forests

When they’re not giving jet boat experiences on the Waimakariri Gorge, Robyn and Paul Mullan from Alpine Jet Thrills are working on protecting and restoring the natural environment of their backyard, with support from the Selwyn Natural Environment Fund (SNEF).

The purpose of the Selwyn Natural Environment Fund is to encourage and assist landowners, individuals, community groups, and mana whenua to protect, restore, and enhance the natural environment. Thanks to the fund, over the last year a range of new planting and biodiversity projects have taken place across the district.

The site Robyn and Paul Mullan lease for their business is adjacent to a small remnant of native forest that has one of the largest remaining matai trees on the Canterbury Plains. Until recently, the bush was overrun with woody weeds, such as blackberry, and predators. During the Covid lockdowns, Robyn and Paul began clearing out the weeds and putting a walking track through the forest. In the past couple of years, grants from SNEF have enabled them to continue this work and add a predator trapping network, extra native planting and educational signage about the native plants, written in both Māori and English. The bush is now almost free of weeds and with the reduction in predators, it is full of birdlife and regenerating native plants and ferns for visitors to enjoy.

Robyn says the funding has allowed them to develop this small but significant piece of native bush into something that can illustrate the diversity of a section of wilderness in Aotearoa.

“It has enabled our small project to come alive and be a significant addition to our business with several thousand international guests annually having the opportunity to appreciate a select sample of New Zealand native bush.”

She says the support shown by the Council through this fund has been extremely important.

“It has supported us both financially and encouraged us to continue the work we are doing. The feedback we have received from our visitors and the Council has been very helpful and certainly has spurred us on to do more.”

For more information on our community funds, please visit selwyn.govt.nz/communityfund