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Boil Water notice

Due to recent heavy rainfall, our water supply has been contaminated. As a precautionary measure, a boil water notice is now in effect. Please boil all tap water for at least one minute before using it for drinking, cooking, or brushing your teeth until further notice.

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Over one third of New Zealand's native shrubs, trees and fern species, and over half of New Zealand's native bird species can still be found in the Auckland Region. Native wildlife including frogs, skinks, geckos, and bats exist in small populations within our region.

Native plants and animals that are special to the Auckland Region are:

  • Hochstetters frog
  • Auckland green gecko
  • New Zealand dotterel
  • North Island kōkako
  • Pōhutukawa, kauri, taraire, pūriri, cabbage trees and flax
  • Wētā

Originally, the region was almost entirely covered by native forest, with saltmarsh and mangroves on the edges of estuaries, and spinifex and pingao on the sand dunes. Today, much of the forest has been cleared and most of our remaining native forest has been modified.

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You can find more about the current state of the regions terrestrial, freshwater and marine species and ecosystem by viewing the 2012 State of Auckland report cards.

Native Plants

Approximately 750 plants are native to the Auckland region, of which 325 are classified as nationally or regionally threatened.

Thirty five native plants have disappeared from the Auckland Region since records were kept.

We have eight very special plants which are not found anywhere else in the world except on the Hauraki Gulf Islands.  These species are:

Endemic Plant SpeciesDistribution
Celmisia major var.major Great Barrier and parts of the Auckland mainland
Hebe bishopiana Waitakere Ranges
Hebe pubescens subsp. rehuarum Great Barrier Island
Hebe pubescens subsp. sejuncta Mokohinua Islands
Parahebe jovellanioides Auckland mainland
Kunzea sinclairii Great Barrier Island
Olearia allomii Great Barrier Island
Senecio repangae subsp. pokohinuensis Mokohinua Islands

Plant Identification Tools

Native Animals

The Auckland region contains 20 per cent of New Zealand's threatened terrestrial vertebrate fauna and is a stronghold for a number of nationally threatened species such as the pateke, banded rail, New Zealand dotterel, Auckland green gecko, Hochstetter's frog and Northern New Zealand dotterel. The chevron skink, black petrel and storm petrel are endemic to the region.

Bats

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Long-tailed bats are found in the Waitakere and Hunua Ranges, and on Little and Great Barrier Islands. In Auckland, short-tailed bats are only found on Little Barrier Island.

Region-wide surveys are needed to study the impact of development and urban pressures on nationally vulnerable native bats, and how we can help bats survive. Bats are hard to find and people may mistake them for a small birds as they dive for insects at dusk.

Auckland Council ecologists recently discovered new populations of long-tailed bats in Pakiri, Riverhead and Swanson. Numbers of long-tailed bats have declined due to habitat loss and predation by cats, possums and rats.

Kokako Management Area

The Kokako Management Area (KMA) is a 1150ha area which was set up in 1994 to protect a small remnant population of kokako in the Hunua Ranges. 

At that time there was only one breeding pair left in the Hunua ranges. A pest control programme was set up and birds were translocated (from Marapa and later Tiritiri Matangi) to increase genetic diversity.

Since 1994 the Hunua project has increased to 26 breeding pairs, with the aim of 50 breeding pairs by 2020. The project success is due to the involvement of a core group of volunteers who assist Council to undertake pest control. The pest controlled area also provides benefits to other species such as Hochstetter frogs, tomtits, and bellbirds.

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