Te Ara Kakariki Newsletter #26

Contents of this newsletter:
- Plantout Tour Event Announcement
- Message from the Chair for volunteers and supporters
- Corporate Plantout days - call out
- Hororata landowners meeting reflection
- Field trip to Charelsworth Reserve - a unique habitat
- Take away ideas for a legacy restoration site in Selwyn

Tēnā koutou volunteers and supporters

Te tuatahi, ka rere te mihi aroha ki a koutou katoa e te hapori o Ōtautahi i tēnei wā pouri. Ki ngā tini aitua kua wehe atu ki te pō, haere, haere, haere atu rā. Rātou ki a rātou, tātou ki a tātou. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge all of our community affected by the tragic events of last Friday, and in particular those that lost their lives. We send our love and aroha to the families and friends of the departed and support calls for confronting the challenges we face, together and with openness and compassion.

For the Trust, 2019 began with a strategic planning meeting, where we took a look at what we have collectively achieved, and which pieces of the puzzle are still missing towards achieving our Greenway vision, one decade on.

Until now, Te Ara Kākāriki has been steadily expanding the number of restoration sites of small scales (now over 70 different Greendots!) and assisting a growing number of landowners across the plains with their vision for native planting. For example, you will see in this newsletter the progress within the Hororata area.

For native birds and wildlife to flourish on the Canterbury plains, we know that we will need to establish a number of larger, significant native habitats, and to this end, we have started to investigate where and what this could look like. We know this could develop from some of the current sites, both public and private, but that they could also be in new locations that we either don’t know about or that until now haven’t been feasible. Therefore, we have started a discussion with the Selwyn District Council about potential ‘legacy’ sites, but are equally interested in hearing from private landowners who may have a large site that would be suitable and encourage you to contact us if you do.

Because of the above, we have been looking at existing examples of larger restoration sites that involve partnership with the community and councils. In this newsletter you can learn from our recent visit to Charlesworth Reserve in Christchurch City.

Our key goals for 2019 are to:

Continue to support our 14 Kids Discovery Plantout Days with local schools in conjunction with Enviroschools Canterbury; and
Assist 16 Greendot sites via site planning and through 2 major plantout days and 4 smaller corporate and community days in Spring; and
To identify and prioritise a list of potential legacy sites and investigate restoration options with landowners and the community.

In 2020, we will look to transition and focus our efforts on supporting the key legacy sites and assisting with gaining funding for these going forward.

Lastly, please consider joining us for our annual Plantout Tour on April 7, where we will once again highlight the impressive efforts of several landowners across the plains in restoring their land with indigenous biodiversity, and sharing lessons learnt about the barriers, challenges and benefits of undertaking this important work, and being part of the Te Ara Kākāriki network.

Ngā mihi,

Craig Pauling, Chairman.

CORPORATE PLANTING DAYS – call out for staff groups

Are you looking for an opportunity to unite your staff, give back to the environment, and feel energised?

Te Ara Kākāriki Greenway Canterbury Trust with the help of volunteers has been restoring native vegetation on the Canterbury Plains for over ten years.

We host planting days during Autumn and Spring: with the community over weekends, rural schools during the week, and now with company staff groups during weekdays too.

What you can do to prepare:

Encourage one another to come out and restore our local ecology.
Give us an indication of staff numbers attending, for how long, and when.
Find out how much your organization is able to donate to the trust to assist us with the planning of the Plantout day and ecologists time. For example, $10 to $15 per person is most helpful. We have limited Plantout funds to assist staff groups who cannot donate.
Organize your own transport, at your own expense (sites are 30 - 60 minutes from Christchurch).
Bring your own lunch and refreshments.

Hororata Landowners meeting

We are in the third year of our Hororata Catchment Restoration project, so it was great for landowners and TAK to meet recently to reflect on what we have achieved in this area as a community, and for the landowners to meet one another.

On February 24^th, many of the greendot landowners in Hororata met together for a potluck meal, a presentation, and a discussion.

This marks the first time that we have dedicated a significant amount of funding to one particular catchment, and nurtured a community of landowners with knowledge and experience in native planting restoration. Thanks to the Ministry for the Environment – Community Environment Fund.

The trust provided 6 restoration plans each year, 530 plants and plant guards to each landowner, and brought volunteers along for a massive Spring planting day each year. Spring 2019 will be the final year with this fund in this catchment. TAK intends on applying to the Ministry of the Environment again in the future.

Significance of restoration planting in Hororata

Beginning at the hills, adding to the Canterbury Greenway, Ki uta ki tai – from the Mountains to the Sea
Native remnants
Networks of springs and waterways
Mudfish habitat
Intensification of land use / irrigation

Map and images showing some of the sites for year 1 and 2 of the planting project in Hororata area.

Goals for Te Ara Kakariki in Hororata between the years 2017 and 2019

Engage with 18 sites over three years in this catchment
Provide restoration plans, plants, and volunteers to restore habitat
Facilitate a Kids Discovery Plantout in the catchment with local schools
Provide ongoing support and monitoring of plantings
Connect landowners who are doing restoration work with a community of others doing the same thing.

Field trip to Charlesworth Reserve

On February 21, Andrew Crossland (Christchurch City Council park ranger) led a field trip at Charlesworth Reserve for the leaders of nearby restoration charitable trusts as well as key staff members from Selwyn District Council and DOC. This was a Selwyn Waihora Active Restoration Forum (SWARF) event, which certainly beat any usual meeting sitting around a table.

The Charlesworth Reserve on the Heathcote Ihutai Estuary is great proof of what a motivated community can accomplish alongside staff members of Christchurch City Council over a decent period of time. The reserve is 20ha in size and has a combination of planted restoration habitat, and naturally restoring habitat closer to the estuary edge. There were plenty of take away ideas for Te Ara Kākāriki, as our trust considers planning a legacy restoration site with the community and Selwyn District Council.

(From left to right: Andrew Spanton (Selwyn District Council Biodiversity officer); Robin Smith (DOC Ranger responsible for Yarrs Flat and Lagoon near Te Waihora); Andrew Crossland (Christchurch City Council Park Ranger and leader of the tour); Lou Drage (Te Ara Kākāriki Kids Discovery Plantout Coordinator).

Site History and habitat:

The 20 ha of reserve is separated from the estuary by Linwood Ave and Humphries Drive. The area was drained in the 1920s and used as pasture. Restoration began in 1991, when paddocks were cleared and planted, and tidal pools were re-created.

The reserve is comprised of a tidal basin with surrounding saltmeadow, saltmarsh, coastal shrubland and coastal bush. Its role is to provide nesting, roosting and feeding habitat for native and migratory birds, as well as provide habitat for fish, estuarine marine life, lizards and terrestrial invertebrates.

Glasswort (Salicornia quinque flora) – grows in the tidal zone.

Salt marsh herb field expansion:

A variety of species grow in little clusters and then begin to fill in between spaces.

Species such as:

Selliera radicans (paddle shaped herb).
Samolus repens (native primrose)
Salicornia quinque flora (Glasswort)
Juncus krausii ( sea rush)

In 3 years, the area has recolonised by approximately 60 times it’s size at start by letting the area be without disturbance.

Organisation and restoration at Charlesworth Reserve

Andrew explained the techniques that were involved in restoring the area back from pasture to a fully functioning wetland ecosystem.

Planting is done by volunteers on key plantout days each year.
No spray is used for site preparation or maintenance due to the neighbourhood preferences.
No combi guards are used around the plants. Just a stake is in place to indicate where the plant is.
A working bee comes every Sunday to do maintenance around the plants.
The group accepts that some plants won’t survive due to competition with weeds.
Some signs are placed next to trees to educate the public.
The volunteers decide on new tracks through the reserve.

Take away ideas for a legacy restoration site in Selwyn:

Engage people who live nearby to be part of the visioning process once a site is selected.
Partner closely with the Selwyn District Council from the beginning.
Set a clear ongoing budget with the council for plants, maintenance and coordination.
Schedule a regular working bee with the local community. Plan a wider community native planting day annually.
Create pathways and signage that is educational.
Comparison between no plant guards and no spray with the use of planting guards and maintenance spray showed that there were much lower survival rates due to weed intrusion. Overall, the management plan depends on the community and funders preferences.

If you know of a site of at least 6 hectares to restore in native habitat, please be in contact with us: office@kakariki.org.nz

Our mailing address is: Te Ara Kākāriki Greenway Canterbury Trust
PO Box 69148, Lincoln 7640

Email: office@kakariki.org.nz

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Te Ara Kakariki - Canterbury Greenway Trust · PO Box 69148 · Christchurch, Canterbury 7640 · New Zealand