Mechanical mangrove mulching resumes around the Tauranga harbour this month after taking a five month break for the bird nesting season.

Mulching is scheduled to resume on January 19 in the Waimapu estuary before moving to Welcome Bay and then the Wainui Estuary at the end of Morton Prestige Road.

The mangrove mulching machine.

Approximately 80 hectares of mangroves have been removed from Tauranga harbour fringes to date with about another 30 hectares to go on the remaining sites.

The consents to remove the mangroves are held by 10 estuary care community groups.

'Prior to council assisting this process with a special machine, the care groups were completing this arduous task by hand,” says Bay of Plenty Regional Council estuary care officer Braden Rowson.

'A wide tracked digger with a mulching unit attached is now being used to clear the mangroves.

'The machine exerts approximately 2psi ground pressure – significantly less than a human footprint,” says Braden.

'It's been a very big learning curve for us this last year.

'We've been learning as we go, adjusting methods and doing a lot of monitoring to make sure we're doing the right thing.”

Waikareao Estuary Care Group chairman Ross Steele says the work done so far in the Waikaereo Estuary is looking fantastic.

'We've been working towards this for so many years we're elated to see it finally happen. We can't wait to see it finished either,” says Ross.