ARTICLE : NZERN - Restoration Days

 Wellington Region Restoration Day - Saturday 8 May 2004

Restoration Day participants listen to Ian Atkinson's key-note talk

The theme of this year’s Restoration Day was think regional, act local.   The New Zealand Ecological Network’s annual celebration of ecological restoration was held at Ag Research, Ward Street, Upper Hutt on Saturday 8 May 2004.

The day offered advice on recreating fragments of New Zealand’s past natural splendour through a mix of speakers, workshops and field trips.   It highlighted the work of committed ecological restoration volunteer groups, and aimed to encourage others to become involved.

The programme included the key-note talk “Reinstating part of the past - what kinds of intervention are practical” , by Ian Atkinson from Wallaceville-based Ecological Research Associates of New Zealand.   Ian emphasised the need for a comprehensive approach, restoring some animals as well as plants and broadening restoration efforts to encompass coastlines and wetlands as well as native forest.   He also discussed the issues faced through the continual need to protect our native flora and fauna from their biggest threat - introduced mammals and weeds.

Workshops covered the topics of :-
- QEII Trust - speaker Tim Park
- Biosecurity issues: pest plant and pest animal management - led by Greater Wellington’s Mark McAlpine and Kim Broad
- Funding: a how to guide, what are funding agencies looking for?
- Upper Hutt, a local case study with representatives from Upper Hutt City Council and local restoration groups
- Propagation from seed and cuttings - led by Robyn Smith and Olaf John

During lunch there was a session on how to get the most out of the NZERN website run by Mike Peters

The propagation workshop led by Robyn Smith and Olaf John.

After lunch, Zena Kavas from the Glenside Streamcare group shared experiences from their restoration journey over the past year illustrated with slides of their work.   The Glenside Streamcare Group operates under the auspices of the Glenside Progressive Association in the area between the Wellington suburbs of Johnsonville and Tawa.   Two restoration areas were illustrated; streamside shelter plantings below the Glenside Stream dam and streamside plantings along the Porirua Stream adjacent to Middleton Road.   Financial and moral support has been provided by the Greater Wellington, Take Care programme.

Later in the afternoon participants had a field opportunity to view the restoration project areas of either Barton’s Bush or Te Marua Bush.

Barton’s Bush and neighbouring Domain Bush, situated in Trentham Memorial Park, are examples of what can be done to restore and regenerate remnant areas of native forest, given the willpower of the community and local council support.   The adjacent patches of bush (totalling 9.4 hectares) were the only areas of original lowland native forest left in the Hutt Valley, but they had seen better days, with rats, possums, weeds and vandalism all taking their toll.   The bush is dominated by tawa, but also has some large rimu, kahikatea and totara.   Over 10 years of restoration effort by many volunteer groups have turned around this unique area.   Intensive use by visitors from the neighbouring park and urban area has meant that it has been necessary to fence the walkways to keep people from trampling the areas away from the walkways.   Pest control has allowed the natural regeneration process to get started once again and this, augmented by extensive planting, is seeing the understory returning.   This restoration project featured in the article Restoring the Forest in Suburban Upper Hutt published in the August 2002 issue of the Forest and Bird magazine.

The Te Marua Bush field trip group.   Photos: Chandra Littlewood.

Te Marua Bush comprises a small remnant of podocarp forest by the entrance to Kaitoke Regional Park that is considered particularly significant.   Just three hectares of predominantly matai, totara and maire which grows on an old alluvial terrace, it is typical of the river terrace forests which once covered this area.   Since 1990 Wellington Botanical Society (Botsoc) has worked with regional council staff, conservation corps and Upper Hutt Forest and Bird members to restore this area.   It is only just sustainable because it’s such a small site, but planting has been undertaken into an adjacent area in the hope of providing a buffer zone.   This sort of forest mix is not to be seen elsewhere in the Wellington region until about Otaki.   Extensive weeding of Tradescantia has also been undertaken.   There are no formal track network for this bush which can be inspected from the road edge.

Organisation for the day was co-ordinated by Chandra Littlewood from the Department of Conservation, with support from members of the NZERN (New Zealand Ecological Restoration Network) Wellington committee, Greater Wellington, Upper Hutt City Council and QE II Trust.

 Wellington Region Restoration Day - Saturday 3 May 2003

Our nature should be our ‘second nature’ was the theme for this years NZERN Restoration Day for the Wellington Region which was held at Otari-Wilton’s Bush, Wilton Road, Wellington, a site which provided plenty of Restoration Inspiration for those that attended.   The occasion was also used by Wellington City Council to launch a resource kit for the Kaiwharawhara Streamside Restoration Project - an umbrella project involving many local community groups and organisations along the length of the stream.

The urban landscape is a living, dynamic system, not a "plastic lollipop thing that is forced into static or sterile planning boxes," participants at the annual Restoration Day event in Wellington were told.

Landcare ecological scientist Colin Meurk made the comment in an address to around 130 members of groups involved in ecological restoration at the workshop day.   Organised by the New Zealand Ecological Restoration Network (NZERN) and the Department of Conservation in conjunction with Greater Wellington - The Regional Council and Wellington City Council, the annual event celebrates the efforts of Wellington's restoration groups.

Dr Meurk stressed the need to look at the big picture, ensuring that ecological landscapes are connected and that our indigenous species form part of our urban environment.

“We need a more life-affirming approach to urban planning.   Is nature part of the furniture, part of our cultural existence, or will it become irrelevant and consigned to remote national parks which has been the traditional way of treating nature in this country - out of sight and out of mind?

“The vast majority of us are city-bound...   It's crucial to have nature as a prominent feature in the urban environment, to get away from the dichotomy of nature and culture.

To make this information more useful we should look at introducing indigenous plant species back into our productive landscape, our farms and production forests, Dr Meurk said.

“And we should be telling visitors about the biogeography here...   Our nature should become second nature, part of our culture.   We have to create an atmosphere for this to happen.”

Other speakers included:
•    Tressilick-Ngaio Park Working Group chairman Richard Northmore who told of being accosted by someone in a supermarket who, after living in Ngaio for 50 years “complained” that he was now being woken up by tui.
•    Julia Williams from the Ngaio Progressive Association which is encouraging residents to take care of the Korimako Stream.   The organisation is about to launch its own website www.ngaio.org.nz
•    Otari-Wilton’s Bush Trust chairman Bill Winstanley who spoke of the early restoration efforts led by eminent ecologist Dr Leonard Cockayne in Wellington, who travelled New Zealand getting to know the native ecology and formed a native plant museum at Otari-Wilton’s Bush.   “He educated people about our native species and showed how they could be used in a horticultural setting instead of the plants that came from his home land.”
•    John Holmes from Greater Wellington outlined the initiatives being undertaken by the council to support restoration groups.   He said over the past 15 years there had been an “absolute explosion” of people who wanted to make a difference in Wellington and throughout the rest of New Zealand.   “It’s really important to know that you are not nutters.   You are not alone.”

Participants honed their skills at a series of workshops which included a study of the Kaiwharawhara Streamside Restoration Project; hands-on planting at Kaiwharawhara Stream, identifying native plants, studying the historic regeneration of Otari-Wilton’s Bush, learning about Wellington’s common invertebrates and looking at the potential effects of the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary on Wellington’s birdlife.

 Wellington Region Restoration Day - April 2002

Restoration Day participants en route to inspect a recently fenced and planted seepage at Battle Hill.

“Magic” wetlands tell NZ history

New Zealand’s “magic” wetlands tell the history of their districts and are unlike any others in the world, participants at a Restoration Day in Pauatahanui were told.

Gordon Stephenson, founding trustee of the National Wetland Trust, spoke of the “story-telling” qualities of New Zealand’s unique wetlands — the legacy of retreating glaciers and other natural processes occurring over millions of years.   He also praised the efforts of restoration groups, about 40 of which were represented at the annual event, held by the Department of Conservation’s Poneke Area / Wellington Conservancy and Wellington Regional Council at the Battle Hill Farm Forest Park.

He said organisations such as DOC and regional councils needed community support to manage wetlands.   Fifty people could achieve a lot more than “two or three lonely staff of DOC” .   An example is the Pauatahanui Wildlife Management Reserve — vested in DOC, but managed by Forest & Bird.

Restoration groups from throughout the region outlined their many projects — including Forest and Bird’s bid to protect the Manawatu Estuary, the community’s restoration of the Punaruku Lagoon near Cape Palliser; and native planting and weed clearance by various groups on riparian strips — before embarking on wetland wanders in the afternoon.

One group was taken on a guided tour of Pauatahanui Wildlife Management Reserve — which involved some native planting with local group members.   Others viewed the Battlehill farm wetland — being restored after being partially modified for farming; learnt about native fish — their biology and their habitat from Bruce Dix, and took part in a native planting demonstration with John Sawyer and Barbara Mitcalfe of the Wellington Conservancy.

DOC officer, Bruce Dix, discussing the range of native fish species found in wetlands and streams.   Photos: Annabel Riley.

Annabel Riley

 Beginnings of Urban Conservation Network – February 2001

Community groups involved in local ecological restoration are being invited to join a shared network.

Around 130 people attended the three workshops in the greater Wellington region to discuss how to build greater community involvement in conservation.

DOC organised the workshops held on three consecutive nights on 12, 13 and 14 February at Kapiti, Lower Hutt and Wellington with support from the regional and local district councils.   The aim of the meetings was to discuss establishing a network of interested community groups and organisations to foster awareness of and involvement in conservation in the urban setting.

Groups would share skills, experience and knowledge via the network, which would also provide and distribute resources including educational material, a group directory, calendar of events and an up to date website.

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society Lower Hutt Branch Chair Stan Butcher said his group was keen to be part of a network.   Since 1981 members have been revegetating Matiu / Somes Island “and look forward to being able to share our experience and gain knowledge from other groups”.

Mike Peters who pioneered the successful New Zealand Ecological Restoration Network (NZERN) based in Christchurch, was a guest speaker. He spoke about the development of the Christchurch based urban network. NZERN grew out of Addington Bush Society, a group of eight neighbouring families who joined up their backyards to plant native trees and shrubs.   Five years on the national network has just over 130 group members with about 3000 affiliated members and provides a range of ongoing support.   NZERN won the Environment Canterbury - Landcare Research Special Award last year.

The Wellington project to establish a conservation network is part of a Conservation Awareness urban advocacy programme.   Over the next few months a series of workshops will be organised on specific issues of interest such as wetland restoration, weed management and using the website - www.bush.org.nz.   A full day event towards the end of May will provide an opportunity for groups to get together from the Wellington Region to have a 'show and tell', hear some key speakers and share ideas on ecological restoration.

The aim is to build and co-ordinate conservation awareness and involvement in urban Wellington, Hutt Valley and the Kapiti Coast.   The network will comprise community groups / organisations, the Department of Conservation, Wellington Regional council and supporting local councils.

DOC community relations officer Annabel Riley said the network, initially co-co-ordinated by DOC, will provide an opportunity for groups to share skills, experience and knowledge.   It will also provide and distribute useful resources where there is a common need, including advice, educational material, group directory, calendar of events and an up to-date website.

 NEW ZEALAND ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION NETWORK – Wellington Region

Over 70 community groups, councils and agencies were represented at recent workshops held in February to kick start the Ecological Restoration Network in Wellington.   Out of the workshops came ideas for developing groups’ skills in restoration.   From these we have organised a series of ‘bite-size practical sessions’.   These will be a chance to learn skills from experienced hands-on ‘restorers’.

The sessions have been supported by the Department of Conservation, Wellington Regional Council, district councils and the New Zealand Ecological Restoration Network www.bush.org.nz/region/wellington.html.

Bite-size Practical Sessions

A weed outing! – plant pest practical

To learn tools for combating plant pests from community members, DOC staff and the WRC Biosecurity team.   Areas covered include: developing a plant pest management plan, weed species and control techniques (including non-chemical and chemical control), safe use of pesticides.
Venue: Bartons Bush and Moehau Park – Upper Hutt
Date: Saturday 7 April 2001 at 1.30pm
Meet: Meet at Bartons Bush at Holdsworth Avenue entrance, Upper Hutt
Parking: Off-street parking on the reserve available off Brentwood St

Wet feet wind up – waterway restoration practical

Learn about waterway ecology, Maori heritage perspectives and hands-on skills.
Venue: Kaitawa Reserve, Riwai Street, Paraparaumu
Date: Saturday 21 April 2001 at 1.30pm
Meet: Meet 500m along Riwai Street opposite reserve, Paraparaumu
Parking: Parking on Riwai Street

A DIY practical – seeds, propagation and planting!

For those who want to develop their ‘hands-on’ skills.   This session will develop your skills in key areas of seed sourcing, plant propagation, nursery establishment and planting out.
Venue: Matiu/Somes Island
Date: Saturday 5 May 2001, 10.00am from Queens Wharf, Wellington (in front of Dockside) on the Evening Post Ferry, return approx. 4.00pm.
Transport: $4.00 per head return trip to Wellington (balance sponsored by Lower Hutt City Council).   Numbers are limited.

Restoration day – a celebration of ecological restoration in the Wellington Region

A chance to bring together groups in the Wellington region to hear from an inspiring speaker, share a day of practical sessions and catch up with what’s happening in Wellington. • The restoration day is your day, so please come equipped with information on your site, photo boards, maps and any newsletters or updates you have.
• Mike Peters of NZERN (New Zealand Ecological Restoration Network) will be attending.
Date: Saturday 26 May 2001
Venue: Tapu Te Ranga Marae/Manawa Karioi Revegetation Site
Address: Danube Street, Island Bay, Wellington
Time: 10.00 – 3.30pm.
Ring to book with DOC, 472 5821.
Postponements/cancellations – Newstalk ZB 1035 AM on the hour.

Please wear warm clothes and stout footwear.   For further information on the workshops or the network please call Annabel Riley, DOC – 470 8416 / 472 5821 or e-mail: ariley@doc.govt.nz or check out the website: www.bush.org.nz/region/wellington.html

Newsletter April 2001