Waipā, it’s time to get your hands dirty (in the best way possible).
Save the date, Saturday, June 13, for a community planting day to help restore nature at Sainsbury Road Reserve.
Together with the community, Waipā District Council is set to plant more than 10,000 native plants across 2.5 hectares of hill country slopes around a wetland.
The reserve only reopened last week after the impacts of a storm damaging weather at the start of the year, so this is a great opportunity to give back to our much-valued maunga.
Community services manager Brad Ward said last year’s community planting day was a great success and a good start to restoring native forest across the 41-hectare reserve.
“This is about turning a shared vision into something you can see and feel - a reserve where both the nature and the people flourish,” Ward said.
“We had people of all ages here last year and we’d love to see the same again. It’s an easy way to enjoy the outdoors, get your hands dirty and be part of something positive for the whole of Waipā.”
The team at Pūniu River Care, a local restoration and nursery supplier, are preparing the site, supplying the plants and pre-digging holes to improve plant survival.
The community planting contributes to the Taiea te Taiao Project, which seeks to restore an ecological corridor between Maungatautari and Pirongia maunga along the Mangapiko and Ngāparierua Streams.
If the weather doesn’t play ball, the planting day will be postponed to Saturday, June 20.
To register your interest, go here: waipadc.govt.nz/sainsburyreserve.
