At the highest point on the gravel road crossing Motutapu you stand on a dividing line, like a firebreak cut between the past and the future.
To the north there are fences and farm paddocks. They sprawl down the hillside to the coast, where cattle graze amid derelict World War II buildings.
To the south, just a few steps from the road, there’s a lush native lowland forest. It fills the valley and is home to a growing population of native birds, including kākāriki, tīeke and Coromandel brown kiwi.
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But it wasn’t always like this. Just three decades ago most of the island, which sits next to Rangitoto in the Hauraki Gulf, was farmland. Grass, gorse and fences.
“The vision is to recreate the coastal forest that would have been here before Motutapu was cleared for farming,” explains Natalie Morris, Chair of the Motutapu Restoration Trust.
“Over the past thirty years. with the support of DOC and Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, volunteers have planted more than half a million trees, over 50 different species, in what is now more than 100 hectares of native forest.”
With plans to continue to expand the area of the forest, the valley’s regeneration offers a glimpse of what the island could one day become.
But behind the scenes, one of the most critical challenges is far less visible.
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The Trust runs its own plant nursery on the island, as transporting plants from the mainland would be complex and carries the risk of introducing pests or diseases.
It means the entire growing process needs to happen on site, from seed collection to planting.
“There’s so much effort that goes into getting plants to the point where they can be planted out,” Morris says.
“From collecting the seed through to raising them, the nursery is a critical part of making sure they survive and thrive.”
Although Motutapu is only a short ferry ride from Auckland, distance quickly becomes a barrier when something goes wrong.
“It creates all sorts of logistical challenges,” Morris says.
“Even though we’re only about 25 minutes from the city, it means we can’t always be here. When something fails, like irrigation, it can be very hard to diagnose what’s happened and get people out to fix it quickly.”
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Last year, the Trust modernised its irrigation system with support from the ANZ New Zealand Staff Foundation.
The upgrade replaced a 15-year-old controller with a system that can be monitored and managed remotely from a smart phone.
“Being able to control our irrigation system from the mainland has been a real game changer,” says Morris.
Instead of relying on periodic site visits, the team can now check water delivery in real time, particularly during the dry summer months when young plants are most vulnerable.
“It has enabled us to actually see what’s happening at any point in time and identify issues early, before any of the plants suffer from health problems.”
That responsiveness is crucial in a restoration project of this scale.
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ANZ Chief Executive Antonia Watson recently visited Motutapu to see first-hand the scale of the conservation effort.
“We’ve been able to help fund some practical things - the upgrade to the nursery irrigation system and helping get volunteers out here,” she says.
“They may sound small, but when you’re here on the island you can see the difference they have made.”
Motutapu and Rangitoto were declared free of pests in 2011. Combined with the habitat that has been created through the forest regeneration, this has meant that Motutapu is now a safe haven for native birds.
Many have self-introduced from other Hauraki Gulf Islands, like korimako and kākāriki which are now found all over Motutapu.
Others were translocated to the island, including the takahē and Coromandel brown kiwi.
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Both of these iconic species are breeding successfully and thriving on Motutapu.
2026 saw the milestone first return of kiwi from the island to the Coromandel to bolster populations there, as well as takahē being returned to the South Island.
“We encourage volunteers on the island to stop and listen to the forest and reflect that what was once silent pastureland is now noisy with birdsong, and that they are a part of this.” Morris says.
“There are so many pressures on nature and being part of restoring nature is about creating something that will be there for future generations.”
This article first appeared in Forest & Bird Magazine September 2026