Supporting Technical Assessments

EMROP: Waihi North Project WAI-985-000-PLN-LC-0001_Rev0 clean 2.7.2 Site preparation The site should be prepared for planting by removing weeds, including areas of pine, which will need to be mechanically removed, felled and left to rot, or poisoned and left in situ to make way for infill plants. Planting will be undertaken over autumn and winter, so that the root systems have sufficient time to establish before the drier summer months (Table 9) Table 9. Weed control and planting timeframes. Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Initial weeding Planting 2.7.3 Pioneer planting schedule Pioneer planting provides for fast growing trees and shrubs that provide natural protection for later successional canopy vegetation that may otherwise have difficulty thriving in exposed environments. Pioneer plants establish quickly and create a canopy cover that will reduce exposure and shade out weeds. Table 11 provides for 17 species of trees and shrubs that will provide year-round foraging, roosting and nesting habitat for nectarivore, frugivore and insectivore birds. Note some of these species are also large and / or long-lived, and will also form part of the canopy of a future forest (e.g. totara, rewarewa). 2.7.4 Future canopy and enrichment planting schedule Five years after pioneer planting, future canopy and other enrichment species will be planted. Canopy/climax trees are late successional species, are typically larger, longer lived and slower growing. Therefore, the canopy diversity is expected to comprise all pioneer species for at least 30-40 years. The planting locations (Figure 5) are generally low lying or gently sloping, and so the future canopy species are suited to this topography. Fifteen enrichment species (mostly future canopy trees) are provided Table 12. It may be necessary to first release or remove some pioneer species to create space for enrichment trees. 2.7.5 SNA 166 Enhancement schedule SNA 166 will be enhanced with a schedule of 10 species (Table 13) that will be planted in to gaps where pine trees are removed (spacing minimum 5 m). Species recorded from SNA 166 plots have been excluded from the list so as to provide increased diversity at both understorey and future canopy tiers.

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