Features

In 1896 Charles Rooking Carter made provision in his will for the protection of part of his estate and it was gazetted as a reserve in 1921.

Plants and animals

This area of swamp and semi-swamp forest on two old terraces of the Ruamahanga River represents a patchwork landscape that was once typical of the Wairarapa - grass, wetland, shrubland, and forest.

Kahikitea, totara and matai at Carter
Scenic Reserve

Because Carter Reserve offers such a variety of habitat types, it has become a haven for some of the plants and animals that became extinct or reduced to low numbers through land clearance in the Wairarapa Plains during the 1880s and 1900s. They include brown mud fish and Coprosma pedicellata, a small leafed plant that grows in areas that are very wet in the winter and very dry in summer.

Rare tree species that once thrived at Carter and the surrounding area are being propagated and have been re-introduced to the area and planted amongst these regenerating forests.

You can help

You can help DOC look after reserves such as this by dumping garden waste in an approved landfill and ensuring that garden plants don’t escape into neighbouring reserves. Don’t dump pets or weeds into reserves as this can threaten and displace native species.