News Page for Friends of Le Roys Bush - old news page 2020

From 2021, this web page is no longer updated. For the current website, please go to LeRoysBush.NZ

Weekly Wednesday Working bees - we'd love to see you there

• Where: See facebook.com/groups/FriendsOfLeRoysBush or the weekly email to registered volunteers or ring 021-240-9414

• For information about what to wear and bring please see Le-roys-bush-working-bees-what-you-need-to-know

To keep in touch, we invite you to follow us on Facebook.

Summary of news - October 2019 to May 2021

Most of our news is now published on the Le Roys Bush facebook page (facebook.com/groups/FriendsOfLeRoysBush/)

Even if you are not a Facebook user, you should be able to view this page without registering, If you can't please email us and we'll send you a copy of the information.

• • • • The Weekly Wednesday Working Bees for 2021 are a regular event - Watch facebook or ask to join our weekly mailout for details.

      • We send out a weekly email about the location - if you subscribed and haven't received the newsletter, please ring 0210-497-523 or 021-240-9414

      • If you would like to receive the weekly email, please register as outlined below.

      • We usually have a coffee and a chat after the working bee - but if the weather is bad, we may go straight for coffee. Ring to find out the location - you are welcome even if you haven't been to the working bee.

      • Please note that the Le Roy Tce track will remain closed to protect the kauri below it.

• • We are looking for a volunteer who could spend a couple of hours a week (on average) as a project coordinator just to keep things moving along on the various projects that are happening. It would suit someone with good people and organisational skills. Full training given. See helptank.nz/project/detail/2571

  • Also would welcome a volunteer to spruce up our web pages and Facebook page - there's a prototype new website on WiX leroysbush.nz to give a new fresh look. Please get in touch.

News - November 2019 to Feb 2020

• Thursday 16 January: A group of about 8 members walked the Stage 1 track reviewing issues that had occurred. Then the lower Stage 2 project track to consider how the lessons learned from Stage 1 could be applied. A widespread area of weed was noted in the upper wetland - Bec S identified this as the water celery called Apium nodiflorum (http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=2444)

• Wednesday 15 January: Andrew, Ken, Les and Keith cleared blue morning glory from below Rosella Apartments. They were joined by Steve Marshall whose father Ray was a key member of the LRB group in the 1990s and early 2000s. Ray died about two years ago - a memorial grove is planned at the bottom of Maritime Tce.

• Wednesday 6 November: Andrew, Ken, Les and Keith cleared climbing asparagus, blue morning glory, loquat, ladder fern, wild ginger, tradescantia and litter either side of the Highbury steps - see LRB Facebook for details

News - July to October 2019

• Wednesday 9, 16, 23 and 30 October: Andrew, John, Ken, Stuart and Keith cleared weeds below Enterprise St - see LRB Facebook for details

• Tuesday 8 October: newsletter emailed out - see here for copy: 2019-10-08 Newsletter for Friends of Le Roys Bush

  • If you didn't receive a copy and would like to in future, please email us to request a copy: LeRoysBush@gmail.com

• Tuesday 8 October: Hinemoa Park working bee tackling the very invasive chinese fan palms near Niagara Place

• Saturday 5 October: pleased to hear that Council will be repairing the muddy sections of the track soon and installing the improved cleaning stations

• Thursday 3 October: Laurie and Keith inspected the erosion in the LRB stream with Stephanie and Hannah from Healthy Waters. We hope we'll see some attention given to stormwater inflows over time. Maybe some new techniques for stream bank planting.

• Wednesday 2 October: Stuart, Les, Ken, Keith, John and Andrew spent a couple of hours clearing tradescantia, montbretia, moth plant, wild ginger, climbing asparagus and other environmental weeds from the slope below Enterprise St. In some places, ferns, kahikatea and other native seedlings are poking their heads through. In others there was just bare rubble and rubbish. See https://www.facebook.com/groups/FriendsOfLeRoysBush/

• Saturday 21 September - we are still waiting on news about when the waterfall track will be reopened. Unfortunately there are still muddy sections on parts of the track and we understand that the contractors are due to repair these. There are also sections of the approach tracks which are also muddy. As you will no doubt be aware, it's mud or dirt which can carry kauri dieback spores on people's footwear or dogs paws. If you see the people removing the barriers, please remind them that the track is not yet approved for re-opening.

• Wednesday 18 September - Maureen, Ken, Keith, John and Andrew made more progress on rolling back the weeds around the culverts and gabion baskets that handle the stormwater from the bottom of Enterprise St. Weeds controlled today wattle (massive with seeds about to drop), Moth Plant (below the garage), Palm Grass, Tradescantia, Montbretia, Honeysuckle.

• Wednesday 11 September - Grant, John, Keith, Les, Maureen, Nic and Paul helped Fiona make the space ready for the Tool Shed open mornings on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month - 9am to 11am.

• Wednesday 4 September - cancelled due to bad weather

• Wednesday 28 August - Andrew, John and Keith did more tradescantia, palm grass, ginger, etc. More volunteers welcome :)

• Wednesday 21 August - Andrew, John and Keith cleared tradescantia, palm grass, ginger, etc from gabion baskets below Enterprise St

• Wednesday 14 August - John, Nic and Keith cleared weeds from below the panel beaters on Enterprise St - got 100 pods

• Wednesday 7 August - 10am to noon

• Well done to John Les, Andrew and Keith for a great job pulling out long, long blue morning glory vines along with woolly nightshade and wattles See the Facebook page for photos. The team also discussed the idea of establishing a grove of native trees on the grassy site between the road and Rod's Island as a memorial to two local volunteers who loved this area. If you have suggestions about this proposal, please email LeRoysBush@gmail.com

• Thursday 25 July midday track walkthrough

  • A small group of Friends of Le Roys Bush members walked through the stage 1 track renewal which is nearing completion.

    • It is still under Health and Safety control so is not open for public access yet.

  • The group also talked through the stage 2 track renewal proposal - the most relevant document for looking at the proposal is the Kauri Dieback proposal as it combines the original stage 2 renewal plan with KD risk mitigation proposals:

    • • Le Roys Bush Little Shoal Scoping Sheet V1 with some comments

      • Le Roys Bush Little Shoal Map 1 V1

      • There was also discussion about the location for new kauri dieback cleaning stations:

        • • The placement for the 251 Hinemoa St entrance was agreed. Hopefully this will be installed soon.

          • The preferred location for the Le Roy Tce cleaning station was agreed - but this will not be installed until the Le Roy Tce track has been upgraded. It was agreed that the cleaning station would be placed below the point where the Le Roy Tce and Hinemoa St entrances meet so that both entrance ways can be retained. If only one can remain open, the preference is to retain the Le Roy Tce one.

            • However, the hedge along this accessway will need to be cut back and some overland water flow drainage installed.

          • The relocation of the Seaview Ave track was seen as the highest priority

          • The preference raised at the Tuesday meeting for the Fairfax Ave track to be completed under the renewals programme was reiterated.

          • There was a strong preference expressed that bikes and scooters should be prohibited from the bush tracks - however there does not appear to be a way to prevent access without restricting push chairs and wheel chairs.

          • While the realignment of the east part of the S8 track below the kauri was accepted, there was a preference for the S12 track to remain at a higher elevation so it was above the raupo

• Wednesday 24 July 7.30pm Friends of Le Roys Bush meeting re LPMP

  • Several members of Friends of Le Roys Bush met to prepare a response to the council's consultation over the Kaipatiki Local Parks Management Plan.

• Information is available in the Google Folder 2019 LRB & BRA response to Kaipatiki LPMP

• A key document is: Kaipatiki LPMP Info Leaflet

  • If you'd like to comment on the draft response, please email LeRoysBush@gmail.com or phone 021-240-9414

  • Submissions close on 30 August (Date has been extended)

• Tuesday 23 July 7.30pm Kauri Dieback mitigation meeting

• Five members of Friends of Le Roys Bush attended this meeting.

• The following proposals were discussed:

  • • - It was agreed that the Le Roy Tce entrance should be retained in preference to the Hinemoa St entrance - but the preference was that both entrances should be retained.

    • - It was agreed that the Fairfax Ave track should remain part of the renewals project. It was noted the the Wernham Track closure had been agreed previous.

• If you want to look at all the maps and documents for KLB area reserves, click here: 190717 - Council Consultation with bush groups

  • Wednesday 3 July - 10am - bamboo control below Westpac

  • John and Keith pulled or cut'n'pasted over 100 bamboo in the bush reserve below Westpac. Good to see native trees and ferns regenerating. Need to discourage rubbish being dumped over backyard fences.

News - January to June 2019

Wednesday 19 June 2019 (facebook.com/groups/FriendsOfLeRoysBush/)

Many thanks to Carol, Helen, John, Les, Lisa and Michelle for planting a range of natives including puriri, five finger and kohekohe in the area below "The Birkenhead" apartment block - just past the fish pool.

Many thanks to John for organising this working bee and to John and Les for the weeding and other work they have been doing round the steps down from the Birkenhead Senior Citizens.

Monday 4 June 2019 (facebook.com/groups/FriendsOfLeRoysBush/)

This morning, we've received notice from the contractors rebuilding the waterfall track, that all Le Roys Bush tracks will be closed tomorrow 5 June from 9am to 1pm. This is dependent on the weather forecast.

We assume that the site of the working bee below 66 Maritime Tce is not affected but please email LeRoysBush@gmail.com and we'll let you know if there are any changes to plan.

If weather defers the helicopter drop tomorrow, it will be rescheduled the following week.

Monday 3 June 2019 (copied from Facebook (facebook.com/groups/FriendsOfLeRoysBush/)

The Le Roys Bush working bee for Wednesday 5 June 2019 will be at the bottom of Maritime Tce - in the bush below the last house on the left - 66 Maritime Tce.

The site is fairly steep and care will be needed.

If you haven't been on a working bee in this sort of area before, please read the notes in the newsletter

As mentioned previously, the monthly weekday working bee has changed from the first Friday of the month to the first Wednesday of the month.

We hope this may give more people the opportunity to take part.

For more details on what to bring, please see the Le Roys Bush news page

If you use Facebook, please also follow our Facebook page facebook.com/groups/FriendsOfLeRoysBush/

PS some notes about volunteer activities etc:

* our volunteer who tops up the kauri dieback cleaning stations is very disheartened to find that bottles and brushes are being thrown away - if you can do anything to help prevent this, please PM us; if you are passionate about saving our kauri, we'd welcome more people to help with this

* thanks to Laurie, Sydney, David and Mark for laying more drainage pipes on the track near Dudding Park; we haven't heard back from Council's Community Facilities Department when the maintenance will be done on Le Roys Bush tracks to remove muddy spots; again thanks to those who volunteered to help with track maintenance - we are still waiting for Council go-ahead

* thanks to Richard and all the Beyond the Fence volunteers who have taken part in the recent rat pulse

* we've had a reserve management plan since the 1990s - however Council in collaboration with the Kaipatiki Local Board is moving towards an integrated management plan for all the reserves in Kaipatiki; the draft will be released in June; if you'd like to receive a copy and/or help preparing a response, please email LeRoysBush@gmail.com

* you may have seen John Gillon's post about the decision to prohibit 3 day, non-self contained freedom camping in Dudding Park as well as on the Little Shoal Bay foreshore; this topic has developed into a wider debate about the Council's bylaws and the original legislation

* people are asking when the track renewal on the waterfall track will be re-opened. We haven't received any further word on this - but I'm told it's unlikely to be before the end of June

* moth plant pods are starting to burst - with their 100s of seeds floating long distances; if you see any pods, please asap pull off any pods (use a rake if they're out of reach) and put them in your landfill rubbish; then pull out the vine by the roots - for more info - see www.pestfreekaipatiki.org.nz/pest-plant-campaign

Friday 3 May 2019

Many thanks to John, Ken, Les and Scott for great work weeding in upper Le Roys this morning. Some people find it hard to attend on Fridays - so we are thinking of moving the traditional first Friday of the month working bees to the first Wednesday of the month - please comment here or email LeRoysBush@gmail.com with your feedback.

Also many thanks for those who reported the missing kauri dieback spray bottles at the Glade Place entrance this morning. And thanks to David for replacing them. Some idiot(s) had thrown them down into the gully. If you have any bright ideas for stopping this childishness, please share them.

And more thanks to Laurie and Adrian who met with Council track maintenance people to discuss upgrades that would remove the muddy parts of the Onewa Road entrance track and the track (currently closed) between Valley Rd and the 3 track junction. Hopefully this work will be done before the Waterfall Track upgrade is completed - so the kauri alongside these tracks will be less at risk from kauri dieback. But everyone must continue to scrub their shoes and paws lickable clean and spray their shoes on entering and leaving.

And finally, Le Roys Bush has now submitted an appeal against the RPMP (Regional Pest Management Plan) and its lack of meaningful controls for seriously invasive environmental weeds such as moth plant and climbing asparagus. If there's an environmental lawyer reading this, we'd welcome some advice.

Sunday 24 Feb - John and Keith cleared moth plant, privet, wattle, bamboo etc from the area behind Westpac Bank.

Wed 20 Feb - seven LRB volunteers and supporters attended a meeting with Julie Crabb of Auckland Council and the track renewals engineer Trevor Butler from Frame Group to discuss the alignment of the track from the bottom of the "wobbly" board walk to Dudding Park.

The Council was proposing that the track should be step free from Dudding Park alongside the lower and upper wetland, past 3 Track Junction and about 100 metres along the Waterfall Track.

Wed 7 Feb - over 80 people including many Le Roys Bush supporters attended a meeting at the NBYC to discuss objections to placing a freedom camping site in a Significant Ecologial Area

Friday 1 Feb - Maureen, Ken and Keith released planting below Senior Citizens and cleared blue morning glory from below Aetherius Lodge and Rosella Lodge.

Friday 8 March - a team cleared blue morning glory around the Senior Citizen's steps

Friday 5 April - Scott, Les, John and Keith released plants below the newly refurbished apartment block by the fish pool at the bottom of the Senior Citizens' steps.

Warning - track closures (12 Oct 2018 updated 20 June 2019)

In addition to the closure of the Le Roy Tce track to protect against the risk of kauri dieback, work on track renewals began on Wednesday 13 February.. The track will be closed for 3 to 4 months from the bottom of the Highbury board walk to bottom of the wobbly board walk below the Three Track Junction. We regret the inconvenience, but some parts of the track are very tired - particularly the narrow bouncy board walk by the upper wetland has a number of weak and broken boards. The upgraded track will provide better kauri dieback protection by making this section of the track much drier.

As at 20 June we are advised that the track work should be completed by the end of June then it will take 1 to 2 weeks to complete consenting processes - so please watch out on our Facebook page for further news.

This renewal work will mean that the track will be closed from the end of the Highbury board walk down past the waterfall and the three track junction to the bottom end of the wobbly board walk. This meant there will be no through access to Upper Le Roys Bush until about June. For a map showing open and closed tracks, go to https://sites.google.com/site/leroysbushwalks/map-of-le-roys-bush

Keep an eye on www.facebook.com/groups/FriendsOfLeRoysBush/ for more news about track upgrades, kauri dieback and freedom camping

News for June to December 2018

Friday working bee on 2 November 2018

John N, Ken, Les and Keith put in a good couple of hours or more releasing the natives in the area below Rosella Apartments at 251 HInemoa Street.

The main visible weeds were oxtongue, thistles, nut grass, tradescantia and a range of climbers. Where possible the weeds without seed heads were left to mulch the area around the trees. Great to see cabbage trees, mahoe and totara taking off. The amount of blue morning glory was a lot less than in previous years. Still a lot of rubbish around thrown over the fence from the apartments - including yucca fragments - still growing from short lengths of logs. The stream was looking reasonable - but still a lot of erosion with bank fragments collapsing into the stream. One day hopefully, we will see more stormwater detention devices in place. Some working bee members will undertake "individual aggregated action" - looking after areas of weed around this upper area of LRB. Many thanks to them.

Dogs on leash in Le Roys Bush (19 Oct 2019)

Little Shoal Bay issues - camping & flooding (19 Oct 2019)

The Birkenhead Residents Association has invited Le Roys Bush, Beyond the Fence and about 6 other local groups to review several issues in Little Shoal Bay: The main questions of concern to LRB are:

(a) the draft Auckland Council By-law that proposes to designate the carpark between the tennis courts and the bowling club for freedom campers including non-self contained campers

(b) the Auckland Council reports looking at proposals to manage sea-water flooding around Dudding Park

Missing news! Can you help?

Unfortunately due to ill health our usual web page editor has not been able to record events regularly. If you'd like to help with this, please email us.

Tuesday 19 June 2018 - Glade Place working bee 2.30pm

Tuesday 5 June - weed control around Glade Place track

• • Helen did more work around the gabion baskets, Susana and Keith cleared ginger and elaeagnus in the wetland west of the track and Laurie did more to improve the drainage leading to the bridge.

Friday 1 June 2018 - Highbury / Senior Citizens area

• • Did weed clearance around the stream below the Kaimataara. Removed on big wattle, dealt to 30 queen of the night, 20 wattles and heaps of ginger and privet. Still more to do!

News for March - May 2018

Click here for the Friends of Le Roys Bush Newsletter - 22 March 2018

• Weekly Monday Morning Pest Plant Hit Squads

Join a hit squad to tackle Moth Plant, WIld Ginger and other key weed sites in the "halo" around Le Roys Bush

Le Roys Bush and Beyond the Fence are planning to have weeding bees in Le Roys Bush and in surrounding areas in BIrkenhead and Northcote.

The meeting point is determined on the day - so please email leroysbush@gmail.com or ring Keith on 021-240-9414 for the meeting point.

It's recommended you wear old clothes with long sleeves. Please also bring:

§ Gardening gloves

§ Suitable shoes/boots

§ Secateurs and/or folding saw.

§ Small gardening fork (optional)

§ Water bottle, hat, sunscreen to suit the weather.

§ We can supply bottles of "MetGel" to dab on the stumps if you can't pull/dig the roots out.

§ If you don't have gloves, we can supply these - please let me know if you want some

It's important you let us know if you are coming so we can be sure we have enough supplies.

See the Health and Safety provisions as above.

Please note that you should always obtain permission before tackling problems on private property. Tackling weed trees over a certain size in public property is subject to conditions.

Please email LeRoysBush@gmail.com if you'd like to help with other weekly hit squad groups or if you'd like to tackle a few sites near your home.

Equipment and guidance supplied - see https://www.pestfreekaipatiki.org.nz/single-post/2018/02/10/Help-flush-out-the-Dirty-Duo

If you know of other sites please report them - follow the instructions on the Dirty Duo site.

Other news

Valley Road foot bridge removal and bush restoration

As at 29 May, Auckland Transport advise that their contractors have almost finished the replanting of the slope below where the foot bridge used to be - this photo shows the contractors completing the planting: Valley Road planting 2018-05-29. Two small totara at the bottom of the slope were accidentally ring-barked during the clearance - the contractors replaced these trees.

Kauri Dieback Cleaning Stations

Please use cleaning stations as you enter and leave.

If you notice that bottles are getting low or have been vandalised, please email leroysbush@gmail.com and tell us which station(s) need attention.

Le Roys Bush Track Renewals 2018

The latest we have heard (24 May 2018) about the planned track renewals is that they are waiting to hear if the contractors can start soon. (Note:. Forest and Bird North Shore has generously written to the Kaipatiki Local Board recommending that most of the budget allocated to upgrading the Tuff Crater track should be reallocated for urgent work in those reserves most at risk from Kauri Dieback. How would Le Roys bush supporters and walkers feel about our 2018 budget being reallocated to those reserves with kauri roots growing under the tracks?)

Reports

• Sunday 27 May 2018 - working bee on track at bottom of Glade Place steps

  • The track between the bottom of Glade Place and the bridge to Valley Road had become badly scoured by stormwater. The old drains had clogged up and the track had become the drain.

  • Many thanks to Laurie for his work on the drains and track on Saturday.and for his advice for Andrew and Keith to follow up on Sunday.

  • The track is a bit muddy now but most of the ruts have been filled in and the drains have been cleared out. More work will be done during the week. Please take care.

• Tuesday 22 May - more weed control in the Glade Place gully

  • • A very successful working bee where Sydney finished the ginger in the gully, while Helen, Romily and Keith cleared weeds in and around the gabion baskets by the top of the steps. We dug out a large palm grass and pulled or pasted jasmine, privet, woolly nightshade etc. There's lots of tradescantia here - but heaps of higher priority weeds to tackle. We repacked the weeds left from the last BNZ working bee into one bag - then filled that bag. The next working bee here will be on 5 June - see the News page for any updates.

• Tuesday 8 May - Dirty Duo ginger control in the Glade Place gully

  • • Great work done by Sydney and Susana - cut and pasted heaps of ginger in the gully between the bottom of Glade Place and 2 Learmonth Ave.

• Sunday 22 April - weeding bee - 10am Glade Place below corner of Learmonth Ave

  • • Only two people showed up to take part in Pest Free Kaipatiki Dirty Duo campaign to tackle ginger in the gully on the right hand side of Glade Place (as you walk down to the reserve entrance).

    • So we'll need to have another go at this - because it's not covered by the Wildlands contract. Please email leroysbush@gmail.com if you'd like to help.

• Report on the working bee, Friday 6 April and other thanks for early April

  • Many thanks to Les and Keith who worked away at the Blue Morning Glory below the Aetherius Lodge and Rosella Apartments.

  • Many thanks also to David who tops up the kauri dieback stations weekly. He also cleared a fallen tree on 13 April after the storm.

• Report on meeting with the Eco-Contractors for Le Roys Bush on 14 March 2018

• A meeting with Wildlands, the eco-contractors for Le Roys Bush (including Little Shoal Bay and Lutners) and the Council eco-contracts coordinator decided to do a survey of the weeds in the wetland to identify what the additional costs would be of dealing to the invasive weeds that are not currently covered in the eco-contract (in the first year of a general wetland contract only honeysuckle is covered; in the second year, a few more weed species). What we hope will happen is that the LSB and Lutners wetlands and surrounding bush will be reclassified as "high value" meaning that most of the prevalent weeds would be controlled.

• Report on working bees Thursday 8, Friday 9, Sunday 11 March 2018

New KD cleaning station installed at the bottom of Valley Road (but bottles available at the turnoff to upper Le Roys for those who forgot). All bottles topped up (thanks David).

More work on BMG, privet, moth plant, pampas grass, honeysuckle and jasmine in the area below the Birkenhead shops! Thanks to all concerned.