Batger Quarry is a disused scoria quarry site on the western side of Maungawhau. Since the 1990s volunteers have worked intensively to replace invasive exotic plants with a cover of native vegetation which, over time, will help stabilise the slope and be largely self-sustaining.
All major weeds are now down to remnant levels. There has been some natural regeneration of bird-dispersed native plants and fern species (particularly the splendid shining spleenwort, and the relict sickle fern Pellaea falcata).
But the site remains extremely challenging – drought-prone, steep and mobile, with only a thin soil layer building up from leaf litter. Infill native plantings require long-term maintenance to get established and successfully suppress re-emerging weeds.
The track through Batger Quarry was created by FoM volunteers as an access path. It has been upgraded by the Tūpuna Maunga Authority as a walking track.
More information about the site can be found in the ecological report by Melissa Marler, commissioned by FoM in 2013.
Download the Walking Map
Download the Ecological Report
Batger Quarry in 1899 and in 2014 (looking eastward from Mt Eden Road)