Mangawhai Community Park

Calling All Green-Thumbed Heroes: Mangawhai Community Park Needs You!

As the sun rises over Mangawhai Community Park (MCP), it casts dappled shadows on the winding walking trails. Beneath the trees, a quiet mission unfolds—one that requires willing hearts and sturdy gloves.

Where is Mangawhai Community Park? The park is 34 hectares and is open to all ages and community groups. Established in 2014 and is located on Molesworth Drive, it has many attractions and facilities

The park encompasses bush and walking track area surrounding the Mangawhai Activity Zone (MAZ), Museum and Historic Village, Bowling Club, Golf Club and course, Wastewater treatment plant, and Fire and Ambulance stations - right in the heart of our town but it needs some tender loving care.

Invasive weeds—those persistent trespassers—threaten the delicate balance of our park. Their roots entwine with native bush, stifling the life out of trees and other native plants. Many small self-seeded native plants are being choked by these weeds and will die without our intervention.

As a community, we are the guardians of green spaces. The Piroa Conservation Trust invites you to join us. Volunteers, young and old, seasoned and new, are needed to lend a hand. Armed with determination and a shared purpose, we’ll remove weeds and restore the park’s natural beauty.

Imagine the magic: If we can bring the native bush back to life, we’ll witness the return of many native birds to the park. Two years ago, and again very recently, part of the park was replanted with native plants by volunteers that need releasing and new planting areas cleared. These spaces were previously dominated by Pampas grass and other unwelcome intruders.

We draw inspiration from the tireless efforts of our community volunteers already working across various locations. Yet, this story aims to rally support for new volunteers to help rejuvenate Mangawhai Community Park to a place we can all enjoy. So, if you are available from 10:30am until noon on Mondays please step forward. Mangawhai Community Park awaits your hands, your heart, and your commitment. 🌱🌼🌿

If you’re keen to help either at MCP or any other conservation work in the area, please pop your details into the volunteer form, and we’ll be in touch:

Volunteer here

Traps & the Fulton Hogan team

Thanks Fulton Hogan!

One of the most recent additions to the Mangawhai Community Park is the instillation of Predator control aimed at protecting and enhancing our native wildlife.

Fulton Hogan, the contractors constructing the Mangawhai Shared Path, recently sponsored 22 DOC200 traps, which will help control stoats, weasels, rats and hedgehogs, all of which pose a serious risk to our native wildlife. The traps are housed within secure wooden boxes, ensuring they are safe to have around other park users including children and dogs and will be monitored by the Mangawhai Focus very own Mel Tito as a conservation volunteer!

The parks traps become part of the rapidly expanding Mangawhai Predator Control Zone, a community wide project aimed at reducing introduced predators so that our native biodiversity can flourish.
Mangawhai plays host to a surprising array of New Zealand’s rare native species, from Kiwi in the forests, to fairy tern on the coast and bittern in our wetlands. In fact there are over 60 threatened or At-Risk species within our community!

Ella Harford (Fulton Hogan) Alex Flavell (Shorebirds Trust) Mary-Anne Boyd (Mangawhai Community Park).

The Mangawhai Predator Control Zone is a partnership project by The Shorebirds Trust and Piroa Conservation Trust, and links their conservation efforts together.
Traps, training and support can all be provided free, and anyone already trapping is encouraged to add their efforts to the Trap.NZ page.

The trap installation marks the start of wide-ranging community driven conservation projects to enhance the park. This includes weed control by Piroa Conservation’s ‘weedwarriors’, native replanting from Mangawhai Natives, and a highly anticipated Rangatahi conservation program being developed by Te Whai.

If you are keen to get involved in trapping or other conservation initiatives
within the community park or wider Mangawhai area, get in touch at [email protected]

More about our partner - The Shorebirds Trust
The Shorebirds Trust invests in scientific research, funds and coordinates conservation efforts aimed to improve coastal biodiversity. They have worked closely with partners to advance research and recovery of Fairy tern, Biodiversity & ecosystem recovery at Te Arai North, and community wide predator control.

The Shorebirds Trust predator control project the ‘Conservation Coast’ has worked with the local community to establish predator control from Mangawhai to Pākiri. The project also brings together existing predator control efforts by DOC, Regional Parks, Tara iti and Te Arai Links golf clubs. Combined, there are now over 1,800 traps withing the Conservation Coast, removing over 6,000 predators!