Regenerating Native Bush at Khemeia Valley

Hikurangi, Aotearoa New Zealand

[Conservation], [Restoration], [Land]

Project story

Khemeia Valley is 850 acres of whenua not far from the East coast and the wild heart of Hikurangi, Northland. Once cleared of its ancient ngahere by axe and fire, then grazed for generations as a conventional beef farm, this land is now breathing a different breath. Money raised in this campaign will go directly into the restoration of native bush across the entire valley — seed collection, propagation, replanting, pest control, and the slow, patient mahi of returning this place to what it once was, and what it is becoming. This is a locally-led, whanau-led, multi-generational project — and an invitation for the wider community to plant their roots here with us.

Our Mission

At Khemeia Valley — named for the ancient art of alchemy — we believe regeneration begins with reverence. We are the Harris whanau, kaitiaki of this land, walking our talk and raising our tamariki in relationship with it. Our mission is to transform a tired, century-grazed pasture back into a thriving native ngahere — weaving in syntropic agroforestry, food forests, watershed care, and soul-led learning so that healing the land becomes inseparable from healing ourselves. We hold a simple knowing: when the bush comes back, so does everything else.

Background & Problem Statement

Northland was once cloaked in some of the oldest, most diverse temperate rainforest on Earth, a cathedral of kauri, tōtara, rimu, kahikatea, miro, pūriri, and taraire watching over the land. From the 1860s onward, that cathedral was felled. Hikurangi sat at the heart of the great kauri logging push: giants two thousand years old were dragged from the hills, floated down rivers, and shipped offshore. When the kauri were gone, the tōtara followed. When the tōtara were gone, the bushmen burned what remained.

The fires were vast. The imagery we have archived and layered against today's landscape shows valleys stripped bare, ridgelines smoking, soils baked and the husks of ancient sentinals left to rot. What was left was sown into pasture, first for sheep and then for beef, and for more than a century the land has been worked, compacted, sprayed, and slowly forgotten. The deep root systems that once held these hills together are gone. The birdsong is thin. The rivers run muddy after rain. Native bush in Hikurangi today survives only in small, isolated remnants tucked into gullies the loggers couldn't reach.

This is the inheritance of so much of Aotearoa. It is also the inheritance we have chosen to take into our hands and turn around.

Solution

We are replanting Khemeia Valley back into native bush — paddock by paddock. Where there is now kikuyu and rush, we plant mānuka, kānuka, tī kōuka, karamu, kōwhai, and harekeke as nurse species. Beneath their shelter we will follow with tōtara, rimu, pūriri, taraire, kahikatea, and mighty kauri once again.

This is not a monoculture and it is not a quick fix. It is a deliberate sequencing of species that mimics the way the bush regenerates itself, so that within a human lifetime the canopy closes and the deeper forest species find their footing beneath. Alongside the planting we control possums, rats, mustelids, and feral pigs, and let the land begin to speak for itself again.

Opportunity

Khemeia Valley sits an hour from Whangārei and a few hours from Auckland — accessible to the millions of New Zealanders and visitors who long to know what intact native bush feels like underfoot. The opportunity here is not only ecological; it is experiential and educational. As the bush returns, so do the manu, the kōura, the tuna, the pekapeka. So do the people. Through our nature stays, food forest, Sacred Wilds retreats, fathers-and-sons camps, and on-land workshops, guests don't just visit a regenerating landscape — they become part of it. They plant a tree. They walk a track. They sit in stillness by a river that is slowly clearing.

Every tree planted at Khemeia Valley becomes a node in a much larger story: a personal legacy, a patch of bush coming back, and a living example for others to follow on their own whenua.

How We Regenerate

We work the way the bush works — in layers, in relationships, in patience.

Our approach weaves together native ecological restoration, syntropic agroforestry, food forest design, watershed and riparian care, regenerative homesteading, and the cultural and spiritual practices that root us in place. We plant in successional waves. We compost and mulch from what the land already gives us. We let stock out and let the seedbank wake up. We try to document as much as possible — soil, water, canopy, birdsong, and the slow visual story through the lens so the journey of this land's return can be shared, learned from, and replicated.

Funds raised through this campaign will go directly into eco-sourced seed collection and propagation, on-site nursery infrastructure, planting and aftercare across priority restoration zones, riparian fencing, pest control, and the ongoing monitoring that lets us learn as we go.

Tracking Impact

We measure what matters — both the data and the story.

Ecological monitoring includes baseline and ongoing tree counts, survival rates, native species recruitment, water quality testing, and pest trap data. We have built an archive of aerial and on-the-ground photography that documents the land in its current state — including the historical imagery overlays from 1942 that reveal what was lost — so the visual record of regeneration is unbroken and undeniable. Jarrod's photography of this whenua, submitted alongside this application, will continue to anchor our public reporting and our story-telling.

Beyond the numbers, we track the lived impact: the tamariki who plant their first tree, the families who reconnect, the visitors who come to help and feel, and the qualitative ripples that move through community when a place begins to come back to life. Because this work is local and whanau-led, we have the rare opportunity to build a community alongside ecosystem, and that perspective shapes every decision we make.

Our Experience

Khemeia Valley is the Harris whanau's life's work. Helen — Director of Alchemy — leads with the medicine of plants, syntropic design, and sylvotherapy, guiding others into deeper relationship with the earth. Jarrod — Director of Sacred Wilds — brings the lens, the heart, and the practical knowing of the land, documenting, restoring, and creating the spaces where people can step out of the noise and return to themselves. Around us is a growing circle of passionate families, regenerative practitioners, mātauranga Māori knowledge holders, conservation contractors, and the community of guests, volunteers, and tree planters who we appreciate deeply.

We have already established the homestead, the food forest, the nature stays, and the early restoration plantings. We host workshops, retreats, and camps year-round. And through My Tree Legacy (mytreelegacy.com) — born directly from our own journey at Khemeia Valley — we are now building a model that allows landowners and donors across Aotearoa to do this work on their own whenua, turning one private regeneration project into a country-wide invitation.

This land has held us. Now it’s our turn to give back.

Connect with us

Website: khemeiavalley.com
Instagram: @khemeiavalley
Facebook: Khemeia Valley
Sister project: mytreelegacy.com
Contact: info@khemeiavalley.com