Webster Block Restoration

The 48.3 hectare Webster Block is one of three farm blocks purchased in 2020 as part of the Whakamana te Waituna Freshwater Improvement Project and is adjacent to the Ramsar designated wetland on the north-eastern side of Waituna Lagoon. The land was strategically purchased to increase the land buffer for Waituna Lagoon and to repurpose farmland that was inundated when Lagoon water levels are high.

The site would have once been part of the wider Awarua Waituna wetland complex prior to land drainage activities for productive land uses. This project is aiming to restore the land to a wetland/lowland forest ecosystem, create ecological linkages to the wider wetland complex and provide additional habitat for threatened and at risk species such as the Australasian bittern/matuku-hūrepo, Marsh crake/koitareke, Spotless crake/pūweto, and Fernbird/mātātā.

A high-level planting plan has been developed and visualisations produced to show progress at 5, 25 and 100 years.

Planting is due to begin in Autumn 2026.