Project relies on locals to plant trees

Thousands of native plants will transform a large tract of land at Long Beach and restore native dune vegetation while improving visitor access to the area.

The Halo Project announced in a statement that it has joined forces with the Department of Conservation to manage about 9ha of land at Long Beach.

This new venture would plant 38,400 native plants and improve public access to the area with a walking track of 1.2km over 9ha of previously grazed reserve land.

Halo Project director Rhys Millar was delighted to be at Long Beach and looked forward to working with the local community.

"We’re calling on that community support to achieve our goals, and locals are signing up to help," he said.

The new venture would rely mostly on volunteers. Planting bees would be on weekdays starting in May.

Weekend planting days are on May 15 and 28 from 10am-3pm.

Dune vegetation restoration would benefit native species such as fernbird, tui, bellbird, weta, geckos and skins.

This, combined with the Halo Project’s predator traps at Long Beach, meant the new habitat would "buzz with wildlife".