Mangroves bundled out

FINALLY: Pahurehure Inlet Protection Society chairman Graham Purdy is thrilled work has finally started.

UP AND AWAY: The mangrove-laden helicopter attracted a lot of attention.

LOADED: It took only one person to hook the mangrove bundles on to the hovering helicopter.

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TAKEAWAYS: Graham Purdy says the helicopter was a ‘‘brilliant solution’’.

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WHEN a helicopter started hovering over Pahurehure Inlet recently, Graham and Gwenda Purdy almost thought they were seeing things.

For 16 years the Papakura couple and the Pahurehure Inlet Protection Society have fought to have some of the mangroves that clog the inlet removed.

"After all the years of working towards our goal it was almost unbelievable to see that it was finally happening," Mr Purdy says.

The Auckland Regional Council finally approved the removal of the mangroves in February this year.

Over two days late last month the helicopter and arborists cleared a hectare of mangroves from the inlet.

With his stopwatch out Mr Purdy says each round trip – from picking up the bundle of mangroves to dropping them at the chipper and returning for the next bundle – took under two minutes.

"It was a very quick, slick and clean operation," he says.

"The important thing was that there was virtually no impact on the ecological environment in that only one person was required to hook the bundle on rather than a lot of manpower tramping backwards and forwards dragging mangroves over the seabed.

"It was, in fact, a brilliant solution to getting large areas of mangroves removed with the least impact on the marine environment."

The helicopter caused immense interest and the couple have been amazed by feedback from other communities that are "quietly working away" to get mangroves removed from their waterways.

"Papakura is a trailblazer and it has given them encouragement to keep working towards resource consents for mangrove removal in their own community," he says.

"It is a wonderful tribute to the tenacity of the people of Papakura and to the Papakura District Council councillors who have shared the vision and supported the Pahurehure Inlet Protection Society in their goal to open up the inlet waters again."

Mr Purdy says the plan is for nine hectares to be removed this year, nine next year and the final nine in the third year.

Initial monitoring looks extremely promising with less than minor effects on the inlet, he says. "By the end of the year people should start to see open waters down by the duck pond at Coles Cres." See www.pipspapakura.org.nz for a video of the mangrove removal.

- © Fairfax NZ News