Piha community members turned out on Saturday to the Old Piha Schoolhouse, to make patties that are a tool in restoring land that was damaged in landslides during Cyclone Gabrielle.  [ Read More ]

Pest Free Piha has received a small grant from Predator Free New Zealand to tackle rats in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle. There has been an upsurge in rat numbers  [ Read More ]

Three measures that will strengthen efforts to save kauri trees from dieback disease were agreed by the Kauri Dieback Governance Group when they met yesterday (29 January 2018). It was  [ Read More ]

Dotterel on North Piha beach – note tyre marks, another hazard Today (22 January) Ben Paris of Auckland Council biodiversity team was interviewed on Radio NZ about the recent attrack  [ Read More ]

A new project team comprising scientists, social scientists, iwi and community groups has gained two-year funding from the Government’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge http://www.biologicalheritage.nz/ one of only six successful  [ Read More ]

Auckland Council is moving to protect nesting dotterels in the dunes between the Marawhara and Wekatahi Streams. This is the first time for many years that dotterels have nested at  [ Read More ]

After testing spraying in the Claude Abel Lily Pond, Parks has started to control the invasive Mexican water lily in the pond. The test spraying showed no residue of glyphosate,  [ Read More ]

About 20 keen weeders turned up with trowels, spades, loppers and niwashi to tackle a veritable field of climbing asparagus at the top of the old dune overlooking the Bowler  [ Read More ]

Community stakeholders met with Auckland Council regional stormwater team at Arataki Visitor Centre today to discuss action in cleaning up contaminated West Coast lagoons. Manager Phil Brown explained that on  [ Read More ]

Twelve people quickly dealt with the remaining 400 plants in the Piha Domain on Saturday 27 June. The project, organised by Local Parks West for the Waitakere Ranges Local Board  [ Read More ]

Around 14 people turned up to today’s wetland plant by the Domain gate, despite the gusty squally weather. The area was a wetland in the 1930s and 40s, flooded on  [ Read More ]

Twenty locals attended on Saturday 30 May to the second Domain riparian planting. Oioi and knobby club rush were among the plants that went in on the banks of the  [ Read More ]

Well done to the team that gathered on the bank of Piha Stream behind the Bowling Club to plant up streamside. The group of 25 who responded to the call  [ Read More ]

The Auckland Council Local Parks Department and Waitakere Ranges Local Board have set up a programme of riparian edge planting around Piha Domain. This will help stop stream bank erosion  [ Read More ]

Dan and colleagues from Ecomatters Trust had a steady stream of visitors to their pop-ups on the edge of the lagoon. They were talking to locals and offering free assessments  [ Read More ]

At the Piha R&R AGM, Damon Birchfield of the Ecomatters Trust outlined to the meeting a programme the trust is contracted to Auckland Council to deliver. An experienced expert will  [ Read More ]

A small crew turned up today (Sunday) to pull lupins in an effort to make the dunes lupin free. Plants were either hand pulled, or cut off and the stump  [ Read More ]

Piha locals are invited to two sessions to remove lupins from the stretch of beach at mid-Beach north of the helicopter landing pad. Organised by the Parks staff for the Waitakere  [ Read More ]

In the recent budget, the Government pledged over $26 million for protection of kauri forests and research. With kauri PTA recently found in the Coromandel forests for the first time,  [ Read More ]

The Waitakere Ranges Local Board adopted the Piha Reserves Restoration Plan at its meeting on 8 May. The Plan, developed by Wildlands Consultants covered the reserves fronting North Piha Beach  [ Read More ]

Posted 24 April 2014 Questions have been asked lately about what the Auckland Council is doing about the increase in wasps people are noting around Piha and the Waitakeres in  [ Read More ]

Waitakere Ranges Local Board today (5 April 2014) led a successful walk along the Maungaroa Ridge Track, where the first unusual symptoms on kauri trees were seen by a Piha  [ Read More ]

Poorly managed or maintained septic tanks are being blamed for high levels of E coli recorded in lagoons at Piha and Karekare. The waterways have been regularly declared unsafe for  [ Read More ]

Around a thousand gathered on Piha Beach on 23 November in the Banners on the Beach protest against deep sea oil drilling. When the crowd lined up facing out to  [ Read More ]

Local and Sports Parks West is warning people that it has four bait stations for rabbits in Les Waygood Park, along the seaward edge of the karo forest (see map  [ Read More ]

Good article in the New Zealand Herald Thursday 15 about consents given to undertake works at nationally significant surf breaks that may harm them. Al Gillespie, Pro Vice-Chancellor Research and  [ Read More ]

The Auckland Council is considering new rules for Significant Ecological Areas after concerns raised by residents with SEAs on their properties. These are: Dead vegetation – Permit all removal of  [ Read More ]

Caught up with Phil Twyford, Labour MP for Te Atatu, at the Piha Surf Club today (17 January). Phil is walking the Hillary Trail to highlight the disease kauri PTA which  [ Read More ]

The Waitakere Ranges Local Board voted tonight (29 November) to adopt the option of removal of a few bollards and a speed hump to save Piha Pohutukawa. For this option  [ Read More ]

Big rain last night – 18 mm since midnight – has pushed the Marawhara close to the Wekatahi. The two streams were mechanically separated only a few months ago after they  [ Read More ]

For the last few months, the Auckland Council has been consulting on a plan for reducing waste through the Auckland region. Many submissions were received and a committee heard these  [ Read More ]

The annual Waitakere Ranges possum monitoring programme was completed in January, with very pleasing results. Most of the Waitakere Ranges is still maintaining possum indices below the treatment threshold of  [ Read More ]

Parks are planning on trimming one limb from a Pohutukawa outside 28-30 Beach Valley Road.  This limb is being removed due to a number of reported incidents where vehicles have  [ Read More ]

Friday 10 February 2012 Earlier in the summer, various local groups met with Parks West and the Local Board to discuss whether any action should be taken on the joined  [ Read More ]

Auckland Council Parks Department and Auckland Transport have decided to remove the limb of the pohutukawa in Beach Valley Road that is below the height threshhold for the road. A  [ Read More ]

Auckland Council has been treating Alligator Weed in the Marawhara, Wekatahi, and Lily Pond over the winter. Now this awful weed has turned up in the Domain. When I reported  [ Read More ]

Last of the clematis, Piha Road, 30 October 2011

Lots of beachfront owners are being troubled by the appearance of a scrambling sweet-pea like weed smotherings their gardens. It is also well entrenched on the dunes of North Piha,  [ Read More ]

Sustainable Coatslines 17 September clean up of Piha beach resulted in 317 kgs of rubbish and 9910 items. Organisers say the turn-out was great, with some visitors coming all the way  [ Read More ]

11-06-29 Information Flyer – Marine Parade Sth Dune and Walkway Maintenance

Some roadside Pohutukawa trees in Garden Road took a battering recently when a truck moving building materials smashed its way through. Concerned residents who complained to the Auckland Council were told by  [ Read More ]

Judge Jackson in the Environment Court has supported general tree rules for areas of trees or groups of trees in urban areas such as those at Titirangi and the pohutukawa  [ Read More ]

With a few of the nasties flowering and seeding, it’s a good time to deal to weeds on your property or road frontage. Cotoneaster is currently smothered in bright red  [ Read More ]

This is not exactly a Piha story but something I was involved in today 25 March that could be of great benefit to Piha where tradescantia is extremely common in  [ Read More ]

Auckland Council will be undertaking remedial tree pruning outside the following addresses on Piha Rd and Seaview Rd tomorrow (Friday 25 March 2011):  28 Piha Rd 17 Piha Rd 63 Seaview  [ Read More ]

If you have wondered about the showy red climber on both sides of Seaview Road at the Pendrell Road intersection it is a very bad weed called Climbing dock or  [ Read More ]

Last week I reported on a wander round Piha and one of the things I wondered about was what looked like a very aggressive climbing weed in Glen Esk Road,  [ Read More ]

Over Christmas noticed Alligator Weed in Garden Road at the Lily Pond. This is a particularly terrible “world’s worst” aquatic weed that flourishes in NZ climate, clogs waterways and spreads easily.  [ Read More ]

I must say I was more than a little anxious about the fate of the Kokako released in 2009 into the Ark in the Park area of the Cascades. That  [ Read More ]

I have been asked if individuals and groups can nominate significant trees for scheduling directly to the Auckland Council of the Local Board does not want to take nominations. The  [ Read More ]

I have been using the Auckland Council’s GIS maps for the last couple of years, which is being enhanced all the time. And, hey, check this out! Here’s the link  [ Read More ]

Seven truckloads of sand were dumped on the roadside at the far southern end of Piha beach, and Auckland Council would like to know who did it. Meanwhile another two loads  [ Read More ]

All that black plastic tubing and green tanks in the Domain are signs of the new sewerage system under construction. The system replaces the old (though really not so old, but  [ Read More ]

About 6 years ago, some of our phormium tenax (large flax) started to go yellow and over a period the mature plants died. At that time, Jack Craw, Biosecurity Manager  [ Read More ]

The Auckland Council has postponed planned works on North Piha Beach to separate the Marawhara and Wekatahi Streams. About 5 years ago the Marawhara pushed southwards to join the Wekatahi,  [ Read More ]

For some years Waitakere City Council has been working with local communities to improve the quality of their waterways by upgrading and finding new technologies for on-site wastewater systems. Piha  [ Read More ]