… And the happenings just don’t stop.
Murray Drake came to visit the Lorax Lair and wasn’t impressed. “You need a deck!” he declared and promptly donated $200 towards that end. So what could we do? Martin got on the blower to Andy Cole, builder beyond compare, and work started in earnest:
By morning tea, the planning had been done. What planning?
Ta-daa!
The committee is swinging into gear! The first meeting took place at the Wholemeal Cafe. Of course, there’s a lot to be done to get this project up and running smoothly, but this scribe for one has never seen such a capable, enthusiastic committee. If anything needs to be done, this is the crowd to achieve it!
One of the main aims for the next year is to get Project Rameka covenanted. This will give the natural values of the Rameka property legal protection and help consolidate the goals of recreation, forest restoration and carbon sequestration. Hopefully, the legal protection offered by covenanting will also assure potential supporters that we are genuine in our intentions.
Our number one choice for a covenant is the QEII. They have been covenanting areas of land for many years now, and as far as we know, no QEII covenant has yet been overturned.
Philip Lisaman, the Nelson representative came across on a wintery May morning to assess the property. The photo makes it look like a sunny day, but don’t be fooled. At one stage, snow fell on us while we looked over the land.
And the verdict then?
Philip was absolutely positive about the project. He was extremely impressed by the community involvement and how much had happened already. Way to go, everyone.
The only stumbling block he could see would have to be the 13 hectares of pine trees. We don’t want to be foresters, but the QEII would be even less interested than us in getting involved in a forestry project. Now the challenge is to come up with a really credible, positive and definitive management for those pesky pines to convince the QEII board that we can deal with them without compromising this fantastic project!
Jo and Andrew McKenzie/McLellan have been working hard. They’ve come up with a name for their Funky Shack … and what could be better?
The Lorax Lair. We’ll take a copy of The Lorax to the shack next month, just so that those deprived of Dr Seuss as children will know why this is such a spot-on name for the place.
Andrew, Jake, Morag and Jo, relaxing on the front door step.
Local builder, Dave Marsh, from Onekaka, has almost finished a ‘funkishack’ for Project Rameka. This will be used as a base for volunteers working on the tracks and forest restoration at the Rameka carbon sink.
Jo and Andrew paid for its construction. Bronnie and Jonathan donated the windows and Rosie Wall donated the doors. It will be transported to the land at the end of April, ready for the open day on the 3rd of May.
