August is a time for trees

Saturday 10 to Tuesday 20 August 2013

Yippy! It’s time to head down to Project Rameka for some tree planting.

Greg Thurlow transports plants August 2013

This year’s goal was to plant out the slip face with 200-odd tutu, which has one of the best root profiles for retaining banks – and slipfaces apparently. It will never grow into an impressive forest giant, but it will attract the birds, and at this stage, we’re keen on anything that will help stop the land sliding away and causing any more damage in the next serious rain event.
And after the tutu, there were more luscious native species to plant out along the historic section of the old Rameka pack track heading in to Great Expectations and The Odyssey.
A fantastic workparty on Sunday 18 August saw 20-odd volunteers planting out miro, hinau, totara, wineberry, rimu, lemonwood … a whole feast of fantastic canopy and sub-canopy natives that can just chug their way up to the heavens.
Greg Thurlow joined us just in time. We called him our ‘earthquake refugee’, as the large 6.6 Friday earthquake took place a matter of hours before his ferry had him on his way from Wellington for a two-week holiday. He was happy to lend some muscle to ferry the plants down the track, dig holes for them and then, in the afternoon, tidy up the track, making it a bit wider and smoothing out some ruts and boggy bits.

Bronnie shows a willing group the finer art of tree shelter origami - don't scoff, these blighters are surprisingly complicated to construct.
Bronnie shows a willing group the finer art of tree shelter origami – don’t scoff, these blighters are surprisingly complicated to construct.

 

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