Selwyn Times: October 30, 2019

14 Wednesday October 30 2019
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Our People
SELWYN TIMES
Lou Drage
Passionate about involving children
Increasing biodiversity
and getting local
students interested
in the environment is
all in a day’s work for
Motukarara’s Lou Drage.
She talks to Devon
Bolger about her work
with the Te Ara Kākāriki
Greenway Canterbury
Trust
What first got you interested
in the environment?
I was lucky to grow up having
experiences exploring nature by
tramping and kayaking through
our beautiful conservation areas.
I went on to work with people
in outdoor centres like Outward
Bound where my office was based
in the natural environment. I
enjoy the beauty of nature and
feel a sense of responsibility to
protect biodiversity that has
called New Zealand home for
thousands of years.
The environment is obviously
a big passion of yours, why do
you think people should care?
We have native trees around
our house and I wake up to the
sound of bellbirds singing outside
my window which is a wonderful
way to start my day. With less
than 0.5 per cent of native
vegetation left on the Canterbury
MOWING
INSPIRE:
TO
Motukara’s Lou
ROBOTIC
Drage arranges and participates in restoration projects like this one for
students in the district.
Plains not many in our
When did you first get
What do you like about being
community get to have the same involved with the trust and why involved in the trust and what
experience. When people arrived did you decide to join?
keeps you going?
in our district
PERFECTION!
they changed the I have been working for the The Te Ara Kākāriki trustees
landscape dramatically and we Te Ara Kākāriki Greenway are a fantastic group of local
have very little habitat left where Canterbury Trust for four people who are passionate about
special birds like the kereru and years and coordinate the
supporting landowners in Selwyn
kakariki, insects and lizards can Kids Discovery Plant-out
to create and protect native
live. Our native biodiversity has
important roles to play in natural
ecosystems, including pollinating
programme. This role combines
my environmental knowledge
with secondary school teacher
habitat. Their vision is to have a
corridor of native vegetation or
“green dots” of habitat so that NZ
plants, controlling insect pest training and outdoor education biodiversity can once again travel
species
Hand AM105 recycling carbon. teaching background.
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Every year they support more and
more landowners by providing
ecologist-written restoration
plans and coordinating volunteer
planting days. Most recently
we helped to restore a farm in
Sheffield. Seventy volunteers
showed up which was great to see.
Can you tell me about the
Kids Discovery Plant-out
programme and how you came
up with the idea?
The Kids Discovery Plant-out
programme was established
to allow children in Selwyn to
interact with nature and provide
them with opportunities to
make a real difference in the
spaces they feel connected to.
The programme is a partnership
between Te Ara Kākāriki and
Enviroschools Canterbury. We
currently work with 14 schools in
Selwyn where students are supported
to become tiaki tamariki,
helping to create habitat and care
for a site close to their school.
Students really enjoy taking
action to plant native seedlings
and having the opportunity to
investigate New Zealand’s biodiversity.
Whether they are looking
at tuna or long finned eel in the
waterway, searching for invertebrates
or learning about the ways
Maori traditionally lived on the
land, their excitement and awe is
inspiring.
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