Te Ahumairangi Hill

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Te Ahumairangi (Tinakori) ridge
from Te Aro
Helicopter logging 2004 storm windfalls on Te Ahumairangi, 2005

Te Ahumairangi Hill (formerly known as Tinakori Hill) is a hill running for 38 hectares through the Town Belt of Wellington, New Zealand. It was renamed Te Ahumairangi Hill as part of the Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o te Ika) Claims Settlement Act 2009.[1] The suburb of Wadestown lies to the north, with Wilton, and Northland to the west and south-west. Te Ahumairangi lies within Thorndon which continues to its south-east.

History[]

Originally, the whole ridgeline was called Te Ahumairangi. During early European settlement, a road was built along the base of the ridge, and according to tradition, the Māori labourers had to work through their meal breaks. In Māori, tina is a loan word of "dinner" and kahore means "none". The complaint became the name of both the road and the hill, and was Anglicised to Tinakore and eventually Tinakori.[2]

The hill was an important site for radio transmission, with 45 aerials along its length at one time, and a receiving station at the peak. The latter was demolished in 1975. There is now a microwave repeater which handles South Island television signals and cellphone coverage.

Storms in 2004 felled hundreds of trees and required the removal of 10.5 hectares of pines from the steep lower slopes the following year. 10,000 new trees have since been planted. Further storms felled more trees in June 2013 and parts of the Northern Walkway across the hill are currently closed.[3]

A new lookout and car park were opened in November 2010.[2]

Threatened species[]

The critically endangered freshwater snail species, Potamopyrgus oppidanus, is found only on Te Ahumairangi hill.[4] A recent survey of the species indicates it is declining in population.[4] The building of illegal mountain bike tracks through its habitat is having a detrimental effect on its survival.[4][5][6] Tradescantia fluminensis is also contributing to this decline as the weed is smothering snail habitat.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ "Te Ahumairangi Hill". Land Information New Zealand. 3 September 2009. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. ^ a b "Te Ahumairangi Hill Lookout". Wellington City Council. 8 November 2010.
  3. ^ "News - Clean Up After the Storm". Wellington City Council. 14 August 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d Shepard, Lara (24 July 2019). "Save Wellington's unique snail from extinction". Te Papa’s Blog. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  5. ^ Woolf, Amber-Leigh (11 July 2019). "Thrill-seeking mountain bikers are ruining the only home of critically endangered snail". Stuff. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  6. ^ Rare snail found ONLY on one New Zealand hill, RNZ, 10 July 2019


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