The efforts of a trust dedicated to planting kauri trees on the Coromandel Peninsula have just grown a new achievement – it's 40,000^th kauri planted since 1999.

The Kauri 2000 Trust founder Cliff Heraud says the trust's success has gone far beyond what he ever imagined.

The Kauri 2000 Trust has planted 40,000 kauri trees on the Coromandel Peninsula.

'My dream in 1999 was to plant 2000 trees as a living commemoration to greet the new millennium.

'To have reached this milestone – of getting 40,000 kauri in the ground, forming new kauri forests on the peninsula – is wonderful.”

Trust chair Alison Henry says her fellow trustees – past and present – are to be congratulated for the professional manner in which the trust was set up and continues to operate.

'It's a significant commitment – every year the trust selects and prepares planting sites, orders the kauri seedlings, and ensures the trees we have planted in previous years are well-maintained.

'Most of our planting is done on public land administered by the Department of Conservation, which the trust has a signed Memorandum of Agreement with, or on council reserves.

Alison says the milestone also recognises the support Kauri 2000 enjoys from people from all walks of life and throughout New Zealand – from hard-working and willing volunteers to supporters who generously donate funds to support the trust's work.

'Particularly special thanks are due to our long-term benefactors Gayle and Charlie Pancerzewski.

'Their support has been a critical factor in reaching our 40,000^th milestone, as has the support of our keystone sponsor BNZ Markets,” says Alison.

'Every year the BNZ team heads into the hills with spades in hand and all these relationships have become very strong over the years.”

Students from Mercury Bay Area School, Coromandel Area School, Paeroa's Miller Avenue School, Tairua School and local language schools are also planting their own kauri forests for the future.

'It is truly heartening to be part of this community of kauri lovers who support what the trust is doing in so many different ways,” says Alison.

The trust has also taken a leading role in establishing the Coromandel Kauri Dieback Forum, which is a network of local organisations and concerned individuals to work in a practical way to protect kauri in their own communities, complementing the reach and resources of the national Kauri Dieback Management Programme.

Inaugural meetings of the forum are being held on August 30-31 in Whangamata, Thames, Coromandel Town and Whitianga.

Alison says to have reached the 40,000 milestone deserves a celebration – so on August 20 trustees will be joined by trust founder Cliff Heraud, patron Dame Cath Tizard, Associate Minister for Conservation Nicky Wagner and a number of supporters and volunteers for a ceremonial planting of young kauri trees in Coromandel town near one of Kauri 2000's largest planting sites.