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Restoring New Zealand's Environment - A Hand's On Experience

Thursday, December 11, 2008

It’s always refreshing to hear some good news on the eco front. We get bombarded by so much environmental doom and gloom that positive news is a breath of fresh air. This week Ecobob was invited to take part in a forest regeneration exercise on a sheep farm just outside of Napier.

The restoration is being undertaken by Mangarara Station, a Hawke’s Bay sheep farm owned by Greg and Rachel Hart, and the Air New Zealand Environment Trust, a new initiative started by Air New Zealand to regenerate and restore the New Zealand natural habitat. The purpose of the day was to experience firsthand the changes that are taking shape on the farm and hopefully inspire others to get involved.

Mangarara Station is the Trust’s first project funded partly from the $450,000 initial donation by Air New Zealand. Over a span of three years more than 85,000 trees will be planted, creating a conservation reserve open to public access and protected by a covenant to ensure it is accessible by future generations.

At Mangarara Station for the day, along with Ecobob, were a range of people involved in promoting sustainability in New Zealand such as well known environmentalist Ruud Kleinpaste, also known as ‘the bug man’. Ruud is one of the founding members of the trust and is keen to promote restoration overtop of sustainability. To quote Ruud, “Sustainability is a way of doing things where we try and balance the energy going in with the energy going out. Restoration is a completely different way of thinking about things. We need lots of energy going into the environment and virtually none coming out. That’s the only way we’re going to end up better off in terms of our natural environment...” The “energy going in” was highlighted for us when we began carrying buckets of water from a pond up to the thirsty seedlings on the hillside. Napier is currently in the middle of the worst drought since 1914 and you could almost hear the young trees whispering ‘thank you’ as the water drained into the soil.

Watering the thirsty seedlings

Ruud is passionate about rebuilding New Zealand’s natural habitats such as the regeneration of native forests and wetlands as well as the wild life that goes with it. During the day at Mangarara we were treated to a fascinating interactive performance when Ruud pulled out a pair of native weta as part of his talk their importance as part of New Zealand’s biodiversity. They proceeded to run around on his arms, shoulders and then head as he dished out the knowledge.

Weta meets hand

On the farm, along with the blocks of recently planted seedlings is some established native forest beside a small wetland pond. Ruud came equipped with some cuts of bamboo which he referred to as ‘weta hotels’ and inside the forest these weta hotels were nailed to the side of some native trees to provide perfect living spaces for potential weta.

Greg Hart

From a farming perspective, the Hart’s (owners of Mangarara Station) are interested in developing a model of sustainable farming bringing trees back to the landscape and giving non-farming people the opportunity to connect with the land and see where and how their food is produced. There is the added benefit of the carbon credits generated from planting trees, alongside the ecological and environmental benefits. The one downside to the planting for carbon argument is that if this is the only criteria used then pine trees win out over top of natives because of their faster rate of growth. Fortunately in the case of Mangarara Station the trees sponsored by the trust are all natives, but the Hart’s have included a mixture of natives and introduced varieties along with the trees sponsored by the Air New Zealand Trust.

At Mangarara Ecobob also had the privilege of meeting Matthew and Waveney, the ‘Rubish Free Year’ couple. If you haven’t heard the story, or if you’re keen for an update, make sure you check out their website: http://www.rubbishfreeyear.co.nz
For more information on the Air New Zealand Environmental Trust visit the web site: http://www.airnzenvironmenttrust.org.nz/

Carlin Archer from Ecobob

Air New Zealand Green Team

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by Anonymous 10 Feb 10, 1 replies : Last Post

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Anonymous 3382 posts	mason bees Posted 10 Feb 10 10:48 AM Hi Ruud I would like to know how i can get rid of mason bees . they are in my curtains ,door locks i have so many fly sprays around the house its not funny but they still keep coming in my cleaning bill is going to be huge. Regards Ceridwen Hooper.

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Anonymous 3382 posts	re weta hotels Posted 18 May 10 7:55 PM I was interested in the mention of bamboo weta motels. The DOC website suggests more sturdy constructions of willow or aged pine. We want to make some to monitor our local weta population, and to see which type of tree they like most. Can someone tell us how to make bamboo ones that we can use for this project. Jenny and Daniel

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