Te Korowai o Paharaaki

Welcome to the dream project. An ambitious goal of over 1 million native trees planted and installed alongside our Partners – Trees That Count, Whakatipu Reforestation Trust, QLDC, and Queenstown Mountain Bike Club.

“The question was raised how do we, as a small country like Aotearoa, impact climate change at scale? One of these solutions that we came up with was we built the template, play community restoration mountains to the sea”

Coronet Peak, Tāhuna (Queenstown) was once covered in native forest abundant with tāwhai (silver beech), tōtara (podocarp) and mānuka, and bordered extensive wetlands at its base. This area would have been thriving with Kiwi, Kereru, Weka, Tuatara and many other taonga species. It was an important place for mahinga kai and has links to the Ngai Tahu Rūnanga.

Our vision is to recloak and restore the front face of the mountain. Planting as well as pest and exotic species control will help restore important ecosystems, provide an ecological corridor from Mt. Dewer to Arrowtown and improve water catchment in the area. By 2027, over 300,000 of the projected 1 million plants will be installed across the face.

The Mahu Whenua land block stretches from Queenstown to Wānaka and is managed by SOHO Properties. The covenant is managed by QEII National Trust. Along with our Partners Trees That Count / Project Crimson Trust – we are on a mission to recloak this mountain with over 1 million natives in ten years. We must think big and be bold. This project presents many different challenges from pest control to Wilding conifer control the installation of tracks and trails reforestation and of course maintenance. This project is all about getting people to show up for our future generations.

This project will also create a template for other regions and countries to combat climate change with the help of the local community, businesses and the tourism sector. In Spring 2022, over 400 volunteers and rangatahi attended two community planting events to plant over 10,000 native trees & shrubs to launch this project and pave the way for future community support and inclusion. Each year we will host further events to allow the community to be a part of the mountain’s legacy.