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Regional Parkland at Te Ārai Background DocumentBackground

The regional parkland at Te Ārai consists of three areas of land covering 475 hectares. Council owns and manages 78 hectares of public open space at Te Ārai Point for regional park purposes since 2008 (28 hectares of this, formally managed a local reserve, was incorporated into the regional parkland in 2013). In 2015, an additional 217 hectares of open space land was vested in council for regional parks purposes as part of a development of the former pine forest to the north of Te Ārai Point. A further 180 hectares of land is to be set aside as public open space as part of development of the former pine forest to the south of Te Ārai Point under the Te Ārai South Precinct Plan for Auckland. Refer to attached parkland plan.

Mangawhai

Wellsford

Warkworth

OrewaWhangaparoa

Peninsula

Kaipara Harbour

GoatIsland

TE ĀRAI

Proposed Management Framework

It is proposed to vary the Regional Parks Management Plan 2010 to incorporate all these lands within the regional parks network management framework.

The Regional Parks Management Plan consists of three parts. The fi rst part contains generic policies that apply to all regional parks. The second part consists of specifi c policies that apply to the individual parks. The third part contains maps that show the proposed general layout of visitor facilities and development on each park. The Te Ārai variation will incorporate policies and maps that outline the management proposals for the new and existing parkland at Te Ārai. The generic policies as they relate to Te Ārai and other regional parks will not be subject to amendment.

The intention is for the council to classify the recently vested land north of Te Ārai Point as ‘scenic reserve’ in terms of section 19 (1) (b) of the Reserves Act 1977 as supported by Te Uri O Hau and in order to manage its wilderness qualities and signifi cant ecological values.

LOCATION MAP

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TE ĀRAI MANAGEMENT PLAN - PARKLAND PLAN

Streams

Roads

Auckland Unitary Plan Precinct boundaries

Land management by the Department of Conservation

Auckland Council local park

Te Ārai North Existing regional parkland at Te Ārai

Te Ārai Point Parkland vested with council in 2015

Te Ārai South Future parkland within Te Ārai South Precinct Plan

NOT TO SCALE

Te Ārai

Stream

Slipper Lake

Spectacle Lake

Tomarata Lake

KAIPARA DISTRICT COUNCIL

AUCKLANDCOUNCIL

Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge

PACIFIC ROAD

Poutawa

Stream

TE ĀRAI POINT ROAD

FORESTRY ROAD

Base information Te Ārai parkland

N

TE ĀRAI NORTH

TE ĀRAI POINT

TE ĀRAI SOUTH

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Mana whenua

The lands to the north and south of Te Ārai Point were subject to Treaty of Waitangi claim settlements. Te Uri o Hau are mana whenua of the of the land north of Te Ārai Point and Ngati Manuhiri are mana whenua of the land south of Te Ārai Point.

Adjoining public lands

The Department of Conservation (DoC) manages extensive coastal and riparian marginal strips, a small stewardship block adjoining the council land at Te Ārai Point and the adjoining the Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge to the north (see attached map). Council is working with DoC to ensure the adjoining lands are managed in a consistent and integrated way.

Adjoining private development

A partially completed 46 lot rural-coastal residential and private golf course development owned by Te Ārai North Coastal Lands (a joint venture with Te Uri o Hau) runs along the western inland boundary of the northern portion of parkland. The southern portion of parkland is to be created as part of a planned development of the forest owned by Ngāti Manuhiri into a 60 lot rural-coastal residential development, including papakainga housing. This land is identifi ed as the Te Ārai South Precinct Plan in the Auckland Unitary Plan that also provides for an ongoing sand-mining operation within the inland part of that property.

Description of the land

The council-owned lands, together with lands managed by DoC and new public land set aside as part of the development in the southern forest, will create public open space extending along 14 kilometres of the northern Te Ārai coast from the Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge in the north to the Poutawa Stream in the south.

The public open space will comprise the Te Ārai Point promontory and the rolling coastal sand dunes to the north and south. It contains the ecologically signifi cant Te Ārai Stream where rare and threatened shorebirds are known to roost and nest on the coast at the stream mouth.

Ecological values

The beach and dunes of Te Ārai are part of a larger Mangawhai-Pakiri sand system which is the largest ocean exposed sandy beach on the north coast of the Auckland region. These dunes contain a number of plant communities suited to mobile sand environments, some of which are ‘at risk’ species. The coastal dunes are identifi ed as Signifi cant Ecological Areas within the Auckland Unitary Plan.

The dunes are habitats for shore skink and katipo spiders, and the inland shrublands are habitat to the ‘at risk – declining’ Auckland green gecko.

A number of dune seeps run behind the secondary dunes and a raupo wetland is located on the southern side of the Te Ārai Stream. Saline wetlands occur along the Te Ārai Stream in close proximity to its mouth.

A number of native shorebirds utilize the inter-tidal zone along the beach frontage for feeding, and the dunes at the mouth of the Te Ārai Stream for both nesting and fl ocking. A tidal lagoon is formed where the Te Ārai stream crosses the beach to the sea, approximately 2 km north of Te Ārai Point. The critically threatened tara-iti (New Zealand fairy tern) has been recorded breeding here in 2013 and the nationally threatened Northern New Zealand dotterel regularly breed here. The threatened Australasian bittern has been observed within the network of wetlands and riparian margins at Te Ārai and the wider landscape.

The 245 ha Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge (MWR) is located on a 3.5 km long sand spit situated between the Mangawhai Harbour estuary and the ocean to the immediate north of the Te Ārai land. The MWR is managed by the Department of Conservation (DoC) and is identifi ed in the Northland Conservation Management Strategy (CMS) as a priority ecosystem that the Department considers nationally important on the basis of it being signifi cant as breeding grounds for the threatened northern New Zealand dotterel and the New Zealand fairy tern.

Cultural values

Mangawhai (including Te Ārai) was a very important mahinga kai (food gathering areas) for Maori because of its abundant fi sh and shellfi sh resources. A number of archaeological sites are known to be located on the land and include urupa and examples of terraces, middens and fi re-scoops. Middens identifi ed on the site have been carbon dated to 400 years ago.

Recreational Values

Te Ārai Point and former Crown-owned forest along the coast have been popular with people seeking informal recreational activities in a relatively natural and remote wildenerness location. Te Ārai Point has been popular beach related activities such as fi shing, swimming and surfi ng. The forested areas have been used for tramping, mountain biking and horse riding. The Te Ārai coast is on the route of the increasingly popular Te Araroa national trail.