Park readies for camping season

EXTENSIVE work underway at Totara Reserve Regional Park will ensure the popular Pohangina Valley recreational attraction is in top shape for the busy Christmas-New Year camping season.
Construction of a multi-purpose building on the Camp Rangi Woods side of the park, incorporating an office-information centre and toilet and shower units, is now finished, while a new playground for small children has been established nearby.

Planting, weed control and animal pest eradication programmes have also been conducted throughout the park as it readies for what could be a bumper season involving many local and visiting campers.

Manawatu District Council Parks and Reserves Manager, Albert James, said the difference between the park’s old ablution block and the new designer-built facility was “marked” and helped smarten up the appearance of the camping site.
“And the children’s playground will go some way towards replacing the one that needed to be dismantled on the flood-prone side of the park,” he said. “It’s located out in the open so people can see the children playing on it and is under a tree to provide some shade in the summer.”

Horizons Regional Council’s Biodiversity and Water Manager, Alistair Beveridge, said the reserve had survived the winter relatively well, with a small amount of flood damage confined to the old camping ground and a few trees lost further downstream.
“The big winds in July were limited in their impact, though some mature trees were toppled or broken off part-way up their stems. And more debris from the 2004 snow storm was also brought down.”

Mr Beveridge said both camping areas are receiving a general spruce-up, with flood debris cleared, entrance roads tidied-up and ground levelling, drainage and regrassing work undertaken.
“Access to the swimming beach in the new camping area is to be improved, walking tracks cleared and hung-up woody debris removed and an inspection of the Pohangina River carried out,” he said.

“Overall, the reserve is looking good, with plants displaying their spring growth and the bird life very visible.”