| Since established late last
year, the CCET Revegetation Group (often called the Planting
Group) has achieved steady progress in our revegetation
project. With the full support from the Auckland Regional
Council (ARC), the group started the first stage of the
project in April. After spending a couple of months looking
for a suitable site for replanting, we finally decided
to choose the Ambury Regional Park as our planting site.
Ambury Park is located centrally, so most of our members
will find it handy to go to. It is a working farm park
with a lot of farm activities available to the public
for enjoyment. Being one of the managed parks under ARC,
we enjoy the full support from the ARC while working on
this project. The Ambury Park is situated strategically
between the Waitakere Ranges and the Hunua Ranges. As
conservationists promote the idea of ecologic corridor
between the two wildlife systems, the planting of Ambury
Park becomes more meaningful.
Our present planting project involves planting up a
fenced area, roughly an acre in size, in the foreshore
area. We will also help them with planting a windbreak
between the paddock and the foreshore. The areas to
be planted is now grazed by sheep and cows, therefore,
weed is not a major problem. The most challenging aspect
could be the soil. The park is sitting on top of ancient
volcanic lava flow. The soil is not very deep in most
places. We have to be patient in selecting a place to
dig when it comes to planting. It is a relatively straightforward
task for us, which is exactly what we wanted as a starter.
After we gather more experience, we can tackle more
complicated projects.
On 4th of April, our group had our first ever activity.
We joined the annual Ambury Park Clean Up Day. Our members
had a chance of visiting our planting site and start
doing some work. Steve Simpson, the conservation ranger,
and Ngaire Sullivan, Natural Heritage Officer from ARC
led and took us to see some interesting lava caves formations.
Then we worked hard to clean up the foreshore area.
We learned that tiny pieces of rubbish could have severe
threat to bird life. After the clean up work, we enjoyed
a sausage sizzle lunch together with other volunteers.
In the afternoon, we went to the nearby Waikowhai Reserve
for a seed collection trip. Ngaire took us for a bush
walk and we collected a lot of seeds along our way.
We also learned a lot on our native trees, and the way
to handle the seeds.
It was a promising start to our project. Everybody
was enthusiastic. It is a pity that some of our keen
members could not present because of various reasons.
However, there are a lot of other activities coming
up in the following few months. There are many chances
to learn and enjoy our environment in this project. |
