Biodiversity data on a regenerating hillside - Year 1
We set up six permanent biodiversity monitoring plots across 22 hectares of former pine plantation. Here's what the data is telling us.
Six plots. 128 species codes. One species — māhoe — was recorded in every single one of them, from bare clay to closed native forest. That's the kind of thing that makes you stop and look harder at a plant you'd been walking past...
Elements of Resilience is a native forest regeneration project on 22 hectares of former pine plantation in Aotearoa New Zealand. We started it because we wanted to do something real for a better future. The goal is to restore native forest that will outlast us, and to share everything we learn along the way.
To know whether that's working, you need data. So late 2025 we set up six permanent monitoring plots across the property. Each one surveyed using New Zealand's National Vegetation Survey methodology (NVS for short).
This is the same system the Department of Conservation uses to track vegetation health across the country. The plots are spread across different parts of the land, at different stages of recovery, so we can start to understand what's actually changing and where. What follows is what we found...