Dorothy Baker Reserve

Forest and Bird, Issue 307, 1 February 2003, Page 48

Dorothy Baker Reserve

Near New Plymouth, the Te WairoaDorothy Baker Reserve protects an important remnant of semi-coastal broadleaf forest. While only five hectares in extent, less than one percent this forest type remains in the Egmont Ecological Region. The forest is dominated by tawa, kohekohe, puriri, titoki and rewarewa with some karaka and localised pukatea and maire. North Taranaki Branch has been controlling possums and weeds, particularly wandering jew, and doing some revegetation work there. Several legends surround Te Wairoa. Whilst travelling to New Plymouth on the Royal Train in 1920, Edward Prince of Wales commented on the forest’s beauty, and the train stopped on the return journey so he could eat his lunch facing the trees. The abduction by Maori of a European child Caroline (Queenie) Perrott at age eight in 1874 occurred at or nearby Te Wairoa. She was brought up in the Bay of Plenty believing herself to be Maori until she was in late middle age. In another story, local Maori hid their greenstone in the Te Wairoa wetland prior to a raid by Waikato tribes and it was never recovered. Te Wairoa Reserve is located on Clearview Rd off Mountain Rd (State Highway 3A), 7.5 kilometres south of New Plymouth airport. It was purchased in 1988

using a legacy from the estate of a local Society member Miss Dorothy Douglas Baker. There are no tracks in the reserve.