January 2021 - Update

Trail News and Maintenance:
Pauanui saw its usual swell of visitor numbers over the Christmas / New Year period this year with the Trail showing its usual popularity with walkers, cyclists and family groups. The December Pauanui Half Marathon event was a great success with more than 700 participants with some great comments about the Trail portion of the course. Once again we are having a dry summer so 3 water tanks have been placed along the Trail to enable users to water trees as they pass. We are on the lookout for trailers for 2 more water tanks needed as our planting programme extends along the Trail. Our thanks go out to Resene Paints who donated much needed buckets to place at each tank position.

Predator Control: The following pests were eradicated over the reporting period: 4 x possum 7 x rats 7 x Good Nature Kills 4 x Stoats 3 x Hedgehogs A graph showing seasonal pest kill rates is available on our website. Trail Usage Counter 13,521 for the period 30th November – 29th January.

Funding: We received a $50,000 grant from TCDC earmarked for the Northern Route. Supporting organisations and the general public donated nearly $13,000 over this period. We continue to investigate additional funding streams as we know getting enough funding in place for the Northern Trail Route construction will be challenging.

Trail Stage 3 Progress: Progress along the Marginal Strip adjacent to the Tairua River is still currently halted at the boundary between TCDC and DoC administered land. We continue to work with our stakeholders to find a way forward for this section. In the meantime we have decided to get to work on the remainder of the Stage 3 route to Hikuai in early March. Details of this work will be announced in a Press Release once we have completed all preliminary work.

Trail Stage 4: The trail Committee is well into the planning work on the route from Hikuai to Tairua. Consultations with Local Bodies and neighbouring property owners will take place once we have a workable plan in place.

Health & Safety: A variety of new signs have been placed along the Trail to help users stay safe while on the Trail. The potentially hazardous dead and dying trees on Stage 2 of the Trail have now been removed. Thanks to TCDC and Matt Groube for arranging and carrying out this work in a timely manner.