Friends Of Okura Bush was started by a group of passionate individuals who, after years of enjoying Okura Bush, realised that the forest was under threat from plant and animal pests.
Initiated to enhance the biodiversity of the Okura Bush shoreline and its surroundings, Friends Of Okura Bush has a mission is to engage the community in the control of predator animals and invasive weeds, with the aim of eventually restoring the ecosystem.
Okura Bush is situated between Long Bay and Silverdale, and the group works tirelessly to restore and maintain the ecological environment of the scenic reserve, and the surrounding areas including the unique cheniers (shell spits) in the Weiti estuary.
Friends Of Okura Bush sought funding from Foundation North to develop an environmental weed control framework – a five-year programme to restore the Okura Bush Walkway to a naturally functioning and self-sustaining indigenous ecosystem. The project aims to eradicate or reduce and maintain all environmental weed species at a low density, then revegetate the site with native species. The group also runs a number of community engagement programmes, from plant restoration days to Okura forest music festivals.
“Friends Of Okura Bush is grateful that Foundation North is helping to preserve and protect the integrity of one of the last stands of old-growth coastal forest on the east coast of Auckland.”
-Lezette Reid, Chair of Friends Of Okura Bush Incorporated
