Your environment needs YOU! If you love Ōpito, you probably already understand how special our environment here is, and how important it is to protect it. On this and linked pages, you will find lots of opportunities to make a difference and help ensure generations to come have their chance to share and enjoy our legacy. Your help can range from an occasional working bee to looking after a trap line or helping with a beach clean up. No special skills required!
Pest Free Opito
The long term vision for this project is to be part of a pest (predator and weed) free Kūaotunu Peninsula. With great funding support from the Ōpito community and regional / local organisations, this project is initially focussed on deploying and maintaining a network of traps throughout the Bay. For more information click here or contact Craig Roe if you would like to help.
Wilding Pine Clearance
For several years volunteer groups have cleared small wilding pines along the Blackjack, but recently this activity has stepped up, initially with the felling of a number of larger trees, and then more recently with the start of a peninsula wide project with significant funding from MPI. Aaron Power is our representative on this project and you can read his updates here.
Dark Sky Initiative
Our night sky is currently one of the least ‘light polluted’ in New Zealand, and we need to keep it that way. It’s a treasure we all take for granted but is in real danger of being spoiled. Click here to find out what we are doing to support establishing a “Dark Sky Community” on the Kūaotunu Peninsula or download the Dark Sky Initiative brochure here.
Recreating a native forest
If you think your environmental project is a little daunting, click here to see what a small group of people were able to achieve when they set out to recreate a native forest behind their baches at Ōpito.
Beach Cleanups
Inspired by Sustainable Coastlines ‘Litter Intelligence’ survey (see www.litterintelligence.org) we have established an annual beach check to determine the amount of inorganic material that finds its way onto our beach. Of the 326 ocean beaches surveyed to date Opito Bay was one of the most pristine with two items per 1000 square metres found in our 2021 survey (in 2020 five items were found). Interestingly the majority of pieces found were blue plastic spacers used to separate glass panes when delivered to building sites. Contact Chris Severne if you would like to help with future clean ups.
