Issue No. 6 - 14th July 2001
Saturday, 14 July 2001
In
the early 1990s the Whanganui Tree Trust identified the need to begin planting
areas of the Whanganui River banks with native plants.
At the time, the Wanganui District Council did not have the resources to do this work but the Trust's vision saw the first plantings go ahead in the Karoro Road area.
Now, almost 10 years later, the District Council and horizons.mw (the Regional Council) are working side by side with the Tree Trust in planting this area.
"Our Community Projects Team recently sprayed and brushcut a large area before covering it with bark peelings and sawdust," District Council Recreation and Culture Manager Mark Daniels said.
"This mulch, which has proved very successful at the Balgownie landfill,
will help suppress weeds and provide nutrients for all new plantings."
This
week pupils from Wanganui Intermediate School planted nearly 1000 trees and
shrubs, supplied by the Regional Council, in the area. Allan Kirk, Soil Conservator
with horizons.mw, said that he saw this as an ideal opportunity for these young
people to contribute to the long-standing tradition of school involvement in
Arbor Day plantings.
The plants chosen are those that would once have been found growing naturally in this area.
"We are trying to recreate what might once have been along this stretch of the estuary," George Jones of the Tree Trust emphasised. Species planted included kohuhu, toe toe, ngaio, flax, ribbonwood, taupata and the cabbage tree.
The Community Projects Team is also eager to see this area developed.
"It will be great to see trees and shrubs flourishing here when the riverbank walkway, currently completed as far as Cobham Bridge, reaches Karoro Road in a year or so," Alan Doyle, the Team's Co-ordinator, said.