[3] Most of the wetland is ombrotrophic, meaning it receives water and nutrient inputs solely from rain and is hydrologically isolated from the surrounding canals and rivers.

[4] Locally, a popular misconception persists that water flows from the nearby Piako River into the bog and that the wetland acts as a significant store for floodwater.

[5] Kopuatai has survived extensive draining of the wetlands on the Hauraki Plains and was given protection in 1987 when it came under the administration of the newly formed Department of Conservation.

[6] Kopuatai contains the largest remaining population of Sporadanthus ferrugineus, a peat-forming plant that was once widespread in the upper North Island, but is now found in only a few places, in the Hauraki Plains and Waikato basin.

[7] S. ferrugineus in turn provides the only known food source for the rare endemic moth Houdinia flexilissima, also known as 'Fred the thread', described as recently as 2006 and remarkable for being the thinnest caterpillar in the world.