Selwyn Times: November 18, 2020

Wednesday November 18 2020 Selwyn Times 41
SELWYN RURAL LIFE
Greendots restoration
creates native ties
From calls of “crazy” to planting 100,000
native seedlings – Te Ara Kākāriki
Greenway Canterbury has come a long
way in just over a decade.
The growing greenbelt corridor recently
marked another special moment at Joyce
Reserve in Glentunnel as the 100,00th
seedling in Selwyn went to soil since the
district-wide project started in 2009.
Te Ara Kākāriki Greenway Canterbury
Trust set out to create a series of ‘Greendots’,
or small forests, linking the mountains to
the sea and Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere,
providing habitat for indigenous birds and
other wildlife. The 100th Greendot site in
the district is expected to be planted by the
end of this year.
The trusts and guests including Selwyn
mayor, Sam Broughton, and Minister
for Conservation, Eugenie Sage, last
month planted five tōtara to celebrate
progress. Te Ara Kākāriki trust Greenway
Canterbury Trust chair, Craig Pauling,
said it was a story of vision, collaboration
and perseverance, as originally most
landowners and potential project funders
thought the idea of planting new native
was a bit crazy. The Canterbury Plains has
less than 0.5% native coverage, so renewal
looked an insurmountable challenge.
“Funders only wanted to protect
remnants, we wanted to add to them, to
recreate the corridor that was there in the
past,” Pauling said.
Sage said getting to 100,000 trees was
the result of an awful lot of hard work and
she acknowledged the contribution of
landowners, nurseries and everyone else
involved in planting and subsequent care
of the sites.
Glentunnel School has been working
with Te Ara Kākāriki at the Joyce Reserve
Greendot for the past four years, building
on the work of the Coalgate/Glentunnel
Reserve Committee. The result of their
combined labour is a mix of young and
established native plantings, making for
a stunning recreation and picnic spot
just off State Highway 77 beside the
Waikirikiri/Selwyn River.
Glenntunnel students are among 16
Selwyn schools taking part in this year’s
Kids Discovery Plantout Programme –
a series of activities teaching children
about invertebrates and pest control,
for example. The plantout scheme is a
partnership between Te Ara Kākāriki,
Enviroschools and Lincoln University.
Te Ara Kākāriki also hosts three
public planting days at a selection of
Greendot sites each spring, as well as a
small number of weekday plantings with
corporate or staff groups.
Landowners looking to restore part of
their property back to native forest in
2021 are encouraged to apply to Te Ara
Kākāriki for native planting assistance.
Help is available to any individual or
group with a piece of land at least 1100m/
sq that can grow native plants.
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