On Friday 10 June, a group of 34 enthusiastic students from BDSC travelled with Ms Julia Rooke and Ms Edna Jumillarivera (Teachers in Charge) to Ant and Christine Waters’ farm at Creightons Road, Clevedon. The weather didn’t look too promising, but as we pulled up on the bus, a window of blue sky opened. We were finally able to plant the native trees we have been nurturing and growing for the past year.
Linzi Hughes, the Trees for Survival coordinator, welcomed our group to the planting site. Christine’s mum and dad also joined us, along with Nic Bishop from Fisher and Paykel and three students from the University of Auckland Ecology department. Linzi gave us a quick rundown of what we needed to do, and before long, we were planting.
It was encouraging to see how keen everyone was to work together to help dig the holes for the trees. Planting trees helps prevent soil erosion, reduces the amount of sediment in waterways and increases the water quality of our streams and harbours. It also helps to improve native biodiversity and bush regeneration.
We were kindly rewarded with a wonderful lunch of sausages, macaroni and cheese, quiches, and home baking prepared for us by the farm owners, Christine, and Ant.
After lunch, we returned to school in high spirits despite the tiring work. In total we planted around 900 native plants!
Thank you to Linzi, Ant and Christine, and Nic Bishop, our sponsor from Fisher and Paykel, for making our planting day possible and enabling us to make a positive change to the environment.
~ Jess Macdonald 11E8 and Alex Huang 12E2, Trees for Survival Student Leaders