Waihi North Project: Assessment of Terrestrial Ecological Values & Effects 62138 WNP AEE 35 plantings include kānuka, karo, cabbage tree, kauri, māhoe, tōtara, ribbonwood (Plagianthus regius), flax, makomako, koromiko, karamū (Coprosma lucida and C. robusta), and māpou. To the east is an approximately 1 ha mature pine stand which includes some common native seedlings and ground cover species, but is nevertheless a simple pine stand. These plantings are healthy and provide a riparian buffer to a tributary of the Ohinemuri River and vegetation connection to SNA 166 fragment (northern fragment, Figure 16) as well as low-level (fragmented pine stands) connectivity between the northern and southern fragments of SNA 166 (Figure 15) Figure 16. Planted vegetation alongside SNA 166 (northern fragment). 5.2.2 Fauna 5.2.2.1 Frogs None of the identified watercourses within the NRS area support potential habitat associated with native frogs. 5.2.2.2 Lizards Potential lizard habitats within and around the NRS area include managed farmland with restoration planting, native forest (SNA 166) and exotic pine. The restoration plantings are relatively young (approximately 15-20 years old) and unlikely to currently act as habitat for skink or arboreal lizards, in part because of the lack of lizards in surrounding habitats to colonise them and/or a lack of connectivity between existing lizard habitats and the planted areas. There is potential habitat along the edges of the northern fragment of SNA 166, but this is beyond the footprint of the NRS. The lizard surveys did not record any native lizards within the NRS area. However, where survey coverage included potential habitats around 400 m - 500 m east of the NRS footprint, moko skinks (Oligosoma moco, Figure 17) were recorded along the north-facing aspects of the northern fragment of SNA 166 (n = 2) and the edge of a pine block that extends to the east of the rock stack (n = 3, Figure 10). Moko skinks have a conservation status of ‘Nationally At-Risk- relict’ (Hitchmough et al. 2021) and have moderate value (Roper-Lindsay et al., 2018). Their habitats are associated with boulder deposits along vegetated edges east of the NRS area. While these habitats are contiguous with plantings within the NRS footprint, moko skinks were not recorded within the NRS footprint.
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