Kāpiti Island, as seen from Waikanae Beach. File photo. Photo: Dan Cederholm / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Kāpiti Coast District Council is trying to get its community involved in a battle to get motorbikes off its dunes.
The council has launched a new signage campaign dubbed "Don't be an egg! Keep off our dunes!"
The new campaign aims to educate the community about the impacts dune driving can have.
The figure heading the campaign is the New Zealand dotteral.
Waikanae Community Board member Michael Moore said the spotted birds nested in the Te Horo area annually.
He said the birds were rare and endangered.
Having vehicles and motorbikes disturbing them "really does interrupt and interfere in their environment" he said.
The District Council's Environment and Ecological Services Team Leader Andy McKay said with climate change and sea levels rising "coastal ecosystems are under threat" as well.
He said the dunes were Kāpiti's first line of defence in big storm events.
The council has a dune planting program to bind the sand, but motorbikes tended to kill off the plants, he said.
Mckay said that meant during big storm events the dunes weren't there to protect the properties behind them.
Council environmental standards manager Jacquie Muir said the dune driving was hard to police.
She said they were asking the community "to help support this kind of initiative."
Waikanae Ward Councillor Jocelyn Prvanov said the dunes were difficult to rebuild.
"So we need to really do our best to try and maintain them".
