This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 87, no 9, October 2015
Working on tracks at Pigeon Bush:
Wednesday, 16 September
Pigeon Bush is by now known to many club members. It is that large area of hilly country between the Rimutaka Hill Road and the Western Lake Road, held by the NZ Native Forest Restoration Trust. Once farm land, it is now everywhere gorse giving shelter to emerging scrub giving shelter to emerging beech - the restoration of native forest, in fact. The TTC has had a close interest through two rangers, David Burson and Neil Challands, and through the work of several track cutters and clearers. The call for Wednesday trampers to lend a hand on 16 September produced a great turn out: 28 people.
Too many for one spot, so seven were deployed on the track up from the Rimutaka Hill Rd, and nine started from the other end at Prince Stream. These groups cleared that track as far up on each side as the fierce wind allowed; it was just too dangerous where the scrub was low and provided no protection. As a result these two groups finished shortly after lunch. The remaining 12 tackled a new route up between the lower forks to provide an easier and more direct way of accessing Neil Challands’s original track higher up. This is now perhaps the best cleared track in the Reserve! At the end of the day, Colin Shore, the current Ranger, thanked us all on behalf of the Trust.
- Party members
- John Thomson (leader and scribe).