Waikawa Bay School Stream Restoration
This year we have access to some funds through Enviroschools from the 1 Billion Trees Fund. Through this fund we have been able to help Waikawa Bay School purchase trees to plant and restore the stream that they have been successfully trapping for a number of years.
Angela, one of our Environmental Educators worked alongside some of the Waikawa Bay School students involved in the trapping and replanting project to identify which trees would be the most suitable to plant and encourage birds to return to the area.
Names of plants are important especially for trees with large numbers of species and varieties such as Comprosma and Pittosporum. A name can tell you how tall it grows and the conditions it likes to grow in. Coprosma is a great example. Coprosma prostrata is very hardy to dry conditions and great on banks growing to max 50 cm high. Coprosma grandifolia on the other hand enjoys damper forest or wetland sites and grows to 6 metres tall. Top tip – don’t rely on plants with the same name to all be suitable.
With this good piece of advice in mind, the students were asked to think like birds! If native birds were gardeners, what are the things that they would think about when designing a garden? What would they plant?
They came up with a list of things to take into consideration –
- Keep it local
- Create a safe haven
- Vary the height of plants
- Provide food all year round
- Think insects too – not all birds are vegetarian!
We can’t wait to see the final planting, we know the birds are in for a real treat!
If your school or ECE centre is a Marlborough Enviroschools and are interested in planting trees this year we may be able to help. Please contact Annie.mcdonald@marlborough.govt.nz