Community Native Tree Planting & Working Bee

Lookout! Tree planting ahead!

Planting season kicks off again this June. As is the usual case, we will be hosting a working bee every Sunday in June and August.
We've hit upon a winning formula with our working bees by combining tree planting with track maintenance, which mostly involves levelling the track surface and improving track drainage to lessen erosion damage.

June will see us focus our work on Moemoea track, which we have done for the last couple of years. This is on the upper slopes, which get very dry in summer. Planting there early in the season gives trees more time to get their roots established, increasing their chances of survival. About 90% of our plantings along Moemoea last year survived. Crucially, all of the rata survived - a great result considering we had 3 months with little rain.

We will also have a focus on planting and improving our lookout points. We have put in seats at 4 locations that give good views as far as the Tararua and Remutaka ranges. We have made sure to only plant shrubs and small trees in these areas so that the view doesn't get obscured. This also allows us to put in locally rare plants that require open sunny spots such as the Nationally Endangered shrubby tororaro (Muehlenbeckia astonii).