Prices Road Wetlands
Size: 0.9 hectares
Site description and location
The Prices Road Wetlands are within Colin Dale Park in Wiri, south Auckland. They are administered by Auckland Council. The wetlands are coastal and buffer Pukaki Creek. This is a tidal creek in the upper reaches of the Manukau Harbour, adjacent to the Auckland International Airport.
The majority of the original wetlands in the Manukau area have been lost. Most were drained for farming or infilled for urban and industrial development.
The wetlands at this site have a diverse range of native plant species and transition from freshwater to saline. They provide a good example of natural plant species composition along a freshwater to saline gradient. The wetlands provide habitat for native bird species.
Key ecosystems
The wetland closest to the coast is dominated by purua grass (a native sedge), with flax, giant umbrella sedge and a range of other species.
It is classified as oioi, restiad rushland and reedland (WL10). There are very few examples of this ecosystem type left on Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland’s mainland. The wetland grades into a degraded exotic-dominated wetland upstream.
Management requirements
These wetlands would benefit from a restoration programme to:
- reduce weeds
- improve fencing to exclude livestock
- re-establish a native-dominated buffer around the wetland margins
- animal pest control to improve the habitat value for native birds.
