The Waikato region was covered in native vegetation prior to European settlement. Today, 26 per cent of our region remains in native vegetation. Some native species are unique to the Waikato region.
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Our region before 1840
Before European settlement, the Waikato region was covered in native vegetation (except for open water and areas of bare lava or permanent snow and ice).
Although the vegetation was native, not all of it was original. Almost half of the region, mainly the lowlands and the volcanic plateau, had been burnt off and was covered in scrub.
Higher, wetter, or less accessible areas remained in mature kauri, beech or podocarp forest (podocarps include rimu, totara and kahikatea). Native dune vegetation (pingao and spinifex) was found on the coast, especially at harbour mouths and river deltas. There were vast freshwater wetlands near the Lower Waikato River and Hauraki Plains.
The region supported unique plants and animals, with many plants, birds, reptiles, frogs, insects and snails. Land mammals were rare - only three species of bat. The exact number of land species present in 1840 is unknown, although we do know that some species were already extinct by then, including species of moa and the giant eagle.
Our region’s vegetation today
Today, around 26 per cent of our region (approximately 620,833 ha) remains in native vegetation.
Native forest covers 20 per cent of the region. Scrub, wetland, dune, geothermal, and tussock vegetation make up the remaining native vegetation. Most of today’s native vegetation occurs in the hill country. In the vast lowland area, only 18 per cent of pre–European vegetation is left.
Within our region, vegetation has not been cleared evenly. Some types of vegetation remain in similar proportions to their 1840 extent. For example, the extent of some high altitude vegetation types, such as beech forest, is largely unchanged.
But in other areas, little remains of the original vegetation, for example:
- Mature kauri forests were heavily logged.
- Extensive wetland areas have been drained for farming and only 25 percent of the original wetlands remain.
- Large areas of sand dune were converted from native spinifex and pingao communities to pine plantations. Introduced plants, such as marram grass, have invaded many of the dunes.
Find out about current and historic native vegetation in our region - including native forest, scrub and tussock and wetland vegetation.
Check out our indicators on the extent of native vegetation and the extent of wetlands in the Waikato region.
Our region’s native species today
Most of our region’s native land species live in forest or scrub. Since 1840, these habitats have been reduced in size by more than 70 per cent. Introduced pests have become established in all of our mainland forests. Some native animals and plants have become locally extinct, others extremely rare.
In the Waikato conservancy, about 100 species of plants and vertebrate animals are threatened with extinction. Find out more about individual species on the Department of Conservation website.
Some native species are unique (endemic) to the Waikato region. Archey’s frog is only found in Whareorino Forest (south west of Te Kuiti) and in the Coromandel Range.
Our region also has endemic insects, such as the:
- Te Aroha and Moehau stag beetles
- Mercury Island tusked weta
- Mahoenui giant weta.
We also have unique plant species:
- Hebe pubescens on the Coromandel Peninsula
- Hebe awaroa on the West Coast.
Many plant species found in our geothermal areas are common only in the Waikato. These include some ferns that are usually associated with tropical areas.
The rate of land clearance in the Waikato region has slowed. Now the greatest threat to our native species comes from introduced species such as possums, rats and stoats.