Our aim is to provide an environment where native plants and animals are thriving – not just surviving – on and around Motupōhue / Bluff Hill.

Bluff Hill/Motupohue Environment Trust (BHMET), established in 2008, is dedicated to the restoration and protection of the natural environment on and around Motupōhue . We do this through pest control, weed control, habitat restoration planting, species translocation and raising public awareness.

The Trust has a mixed volunteer and employee workforce governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees. Advising us are the Department of Conservation (DOC), Te Rūnaka O Awarua, and Environment Southland. Our projects are funded through grants, donations and fundraising events. BHMET is a registered charitable trust.

Bluff Hill Motupohue is of cultural, recreational and ecological importance and is truly one of the last populated places in New Zealand where the forest meets the sea.

Motūpohue changed as roads, a reservoir and a coastal defence battery were built on it. Some areas of the hill were farmed, others converted to forestry, houses appeared on the lower slopes. Amazingly, a remnant of the original forest cover has survived. On the Glory Track you can touch trees that were growing before the first sealers set eyes on ‘Old Man’s Bluff’. We no longer need to hunt the birds or fell the trees or quarry the rock of Motūpohue. Today, we recognize the value of the reserve as a refuge for New Zealand’s special plants and animals, and as a place we can go to appreciate an environment that is unique to New Zealand.

– from the DOC Super Site for Education pamphlet on the Bluff Hill/Motūpohue Scenic Reserve