Growing knowledge and nature
Land sustainability officer Keith Finlayson (right) plants native plants with James Hargest College students Declan Crombie (15) and Mila Young (14).
A planting day below the Waihōpai River dam in 2020.
Schools were enthusiastic to take part, and many kept coming back year after year. By the time the drain margins were completely planted out, the project had taken on a life of its own.
It’s also provided Environment Southland’s land sustainability team with many practical lessons. They’re finding out which plants survive best in our southern climate, and are exploring how maintenance tasks can be adapted to be more environmentally friendly.
“Putting plants in the ground is actually the easy bit. It takes a lot of time and perseverance doing monthly maintenance,” says Keith.
“We found that mānatu/ribbonwood, manuka, koromiko/hebe, tī kōuka/cabbage trees, pittosporums and kōwhai are all doing really well. And the bigger the trees are when they’re planted, the higher the chances of survival. I’d recommend a minimum pot size of one litre.”
“We also discovered that placing wool dags around young plants makes a difference. It effectively suppresses pasture grasses which compete for nutrients and light. This means we can reduce the amount of herbicide we’d normally use to spray out the grass around the plants – a practice known as ‘release spraying’. The only downside is that dags can introduce thistles.”
If you’ve never been to the Waihōpai dam, it’s well worth a visit. On the western side you can see the emerging forest in its various stages of growth, and if you venture over top of the dam, there’s a wetland area to explore.
During the past three decades, a pond upstream of the dam has been planted out by school groups. It’s full of birdsong and a great spot for a summer picnic, and provides a glimpse of what the rest of the surrounding area might look like in future years.
You can read the full Envirosouth magazine as a PDF online here.
