About us
Hi, we are a small but dedicated group of volunteers who since 2006 have been transforming Selwyn Bush from a weed infested remnant forest littered with rubbish to a wonderful native bush sanctuary in the heart of Auckland City that the community can enjoy.
We are volunteering down there most Sunday mornings from 9am until 11am and work can be anything from releasing native trees from weeds to planting new native trees. We are making significant progress but there is still plenty to do so we would love more support either down in the bush or in support of the team via online resources.
Our volunteers
A restoration project is all about the volunteers and we are very lucky to have some of the most dedicated volunteers with this project, they are:
Pat Northey
Peter McLaughlan
Martin Heffer
Derek Ashcroft
Sel Arbuckle
Nigel Ironside
Turfa Chowdhury
And a very warm welcome to two recent volunteers:
Sylvie Raynaud
Ella Nie
History of the restoration of Selwyn Bush
The restoration of Selwyn Bush was first started in 2001 by Roy Clements who was the lead teacher at the Refugee Education Centre for Adults and Families (REAF) and who is still working on the project in 2024. He was already experienced in a project like this from his leading of the restoration project on the walkway at the back of the Mt Albert Grammer school, now called the "Roy Clements Walkway". He was assisted by a number of volunteers including students at the refugee centre who also worked on Selwyn Park which is adjacent to Selwyn Bush. In 2006 Martin Heffer started to kill some of the weeds closest to the stadium. Within a few months Pat Northey answered the call and joined up and this led to the formation of the Pourewa Restoration Group.
Another group from Forest & Bird Auckland started volunteering around 2009, mainly on Selwyn Park but also Selwyn Bush. This group formed into the "Wednesday group" which Roy helps to lead and who meet up on a Wednesday from 10am -12pm and work on the lower half of Selwyn Bush and the adjacent Selwyn Park.
We are also fortunate to have around six visits a year from Conservation Volunteers New Zealand, who bring with them around 8 - 14 volunteers for the day. As well as this we also have corporate groups and community groups led by Turfa Chowdhury from "Nga Kaitiaki Hapori o Pourewa".
For a comprehensive history of Selwyn Bush please view this wonderful online book, "The Pourewa Valley Story", written by John and Sue La Roche. The link will take you to the Pourewa Integrated Plan website which has sections of the Pourewa Valley Story.