ISSUE
Friday, August 15, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 72
A year on from the devastating Port Hills wildfires, reserve areas hard hit by the smoke and flames are showing encouraging signs of recovery, and thousands of young trees and seedlings planted after the fires are starting to take hold and other plants are naturally regenerating, this according to Christchurch City Council Port Hills Ranger Di Carter, who added, “It’s really encouraging to see how much regeneration has occurred over the past 12 months.”
The Port Hills wildfires began on February 13, 2017, and at their height covered an area of more than 1600 hectares. Nine homes were lost or five damaged as a result of the fires, which took 66 days to fully extinguish. It burnt into reserve areas on the Port Hills and destroyed 6500 trees that had been planted by volunteers over the past decade.
Since the fires, Christchurch City Council Park Rangers have spearheaded a massive replanting effort. With the support of volunteers, they have planted 7200 plants over an area of 1.5 hectares in Marleys Hill Reserve and Kennedys Bush Reserve.
“The new plants will require regular maintenance over the next few years until they get properly established. And we will be looking for volunteers to help with this work in the autumn.
In winter, our focus will be on replanting the Kennedys Bush Reserve boundaries with less flammable species of plants. The plan is to put in about 11,200 plants,” Ms Carter said.
A year on from the devastating Port Hills wildfires, reserve areas hard hit by the smoke and flames are showing encouraging signs of recovery, and thousands of young trees and seedlings planted after the fires are starting to take hold and other plants are naturally regenerating, this according to...
A year on from the devastating Port Hills wildfires, reserve areas hard hit by the smoke and flames are showing encouraging signs of recovery, and thousands of young trees and seedlings planted after the fires are starting to take hold and other plants are naturally regenerating, this according to Christchurch City Council Port Hills Ranger Di Carter, who added, “It’s really encouraging to see how much regeneration has occurred over the past 12 months.”
The Port Hills wildfires began on February 13, 2017, and at their height covered an area of more than 1600 hectares. Nine homes were lost or five damaged as a result of the fires, which took 66 days to fully extinguish. It burnt into reserve areas on the Port Hills and destroyed 6500 trees that had been planted by volunteers over the past decade.
Since the fires, Christchurch City Council Park Rangers have spearheaded a massive replanting effort. With the support of volunteers, they have planted 7200 plants over an area of 1.5 hectares in Marleys Hill Reserve and Kennedys Bush Reserve.
“The new plants will require regular maintenance over the next few years until they get properly established. And we will be looking for volunteers to help with this work in the autumn.
In winter, our focus will be on replanting the Kennedys Bush Reserve boundaries with less flammable species of plants. The plan is to put in about 11,200 plants,” Ms Carter said.
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