General Information

A staggering one quarter of New Zealand's total plant life grows on Great Barrier Island, including 75 nationally or regionally threatened or uncommon plants.

Many of the island's plant species grow only around the summit of Mt Hobson (Hirakimata) at the upper reaches of the Awana Catchment.

That's because, unlike much of Great Barrier, the forest there was never logged or burnt.

Stunning remains of Kauri (Agathis Australis) forest have survived on Mt Hobson and in the Haratonga scenic reserve, north of Awana.

Some of the rarer plants on Mt Hobson include Dracophyllum patens, Epacris pauciflora var. sinclairii, Halocarpus kirkii, and Monoao colensoi.

Although the Catchment itself was logged for kauri or cleared for farming, the vegetation is now regenerating to its former condition.

Where kauri forests were burned in the Awana Catchment in the 1920s, manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) and towai (Weinmannia sivicola) are the main canopy.

While some flora is regenerating, cattle, pigs, goats and rats are still a threat.

Concerted efforts are being made to reduce goat numbers, and conservation groups like the Great Barrier Island Trust (supported by ACT) hope to make the island rat-free within 10 years.

In the Awana area farmers are increasingly knowledgeable about conservation and this encourages farming practices that will reduce threats to plant species.

The Awana flats were once a fresh water swamp and a highly productive ecosystem where stands of raupo (Typha orientalis) and tangle fern (Gleichenia dicarpa) thrived.

But such impressive swamp vegetation has disappeared since the flats were drained for farming.

Two of only three endemic species on the island - Kunzea sinclairii and Olearia allomii - grow in the Awana Catchment.