2. THE BIODIVERSITY PROJECT 2.1 LOCATION One of the prerequisites of any large-scale biodiversity project is access to the land as required to carry out management. For this reason, public conservation land administered by the Department of Conservation is considered appropriate, assuming long-term access can be agreed. Figure 2 shows the extent and location of public conservation land north of Waihi. The area shaded red in Figure 2 comprises approximately 18,870ha and includes conservation park (15,786ha), stewardship land (2,673ha), marginal strip (34ha) and local purpose reserve (Waihi Water Conservation Reserve, 376ha). This area also includes the 655ha Otahu Ecological Area (outlined in blue). The proposed location also has the potential for adjoining landowners to contribute in future and ‘link’ the public conservation land in the south. 2.2 OTAHU ECOLOGICAL AREA Unlike other types of protected natural area, ecological areas were primarily selected to be representative of the natural features within ecological districts. Ecological areas are considered to be on a par with national parks in terms of their ecological values and warrant a high degree of protection and management for that reason. The Otahu Ecological Area is the only ecological area located within the Waihi Ecological District and is located approximately 29km south-east of Thames. It is located within the Maratoto Block of Coromandel Forest Park. It covers a complete catchment, has high vegetation values and includes podocarp-hardwood forest dominated by tawa, towai, rata, rimu, miro, Hall’s totara and rewarewa with occasional tawari as well as dense ricker and pole kauri forest and manuka shrubland with regenerating kauri.
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