It took about 11 days for crews to completely extinguish the fire at Tiwai Peninsula.
Department of Conservation (Doc) Murihiku operations manager John McCarroll said he expected the fire would have significantly impacted the critically endangered green skink and other native flora which lived on the peninsula.
The peninsula also hosted native iris, a significant South Island fernbird population and regenerating totara.
"It is one of the largest flat coastal ecosystems retaining indigenous vegetation remaining in New Zealand.
"Not all plants will have been killed outright. Some will regrow, as we have seen previously."
But they needed to wait to see what sort of recovery would happen naturally.
"We are planning to increase monitoring in coming months to try and understand the impact."
The land surrounding the smelter site is leased from and managed by Doc and makes up part of New Zealand’s conservation estate and part of the Awarua-Waituna Ramsar site which forms a buffer to Awarua Bay.
Doc would be working with mana whenua and other stakeholders to find out what work was immediately required and what needed to be assessed over the next 12 months.
By Toni McDonald
