Jamie Butler and Hannah Thomas use a little teamwork to get a tree out of its planter bag.
Jamie Butler and Hannah Thomas use a little teamwork to get a tree out of its planter bag.
This month the whole of Omakere School turned out to help plant some of 2000 flaxes and trees destined as a windbreak for a stand of kahikatea trees that are more than 300 years old.
The school is involved in the Kahikatea Environment Initiative and students have been invited towork with Callum Sutherland from Amblethorn Station, Kay Griffiths from the Conservation Company, and Kate Luff from Enviroschools in a project focused on the restoration of a kahikatea forest and wetland area on Amblethorn Station.
This environmental project fits well with Omakere's Enviroschool work. The school is working towards a bronze accreditation, where schools start to take action towards a sustainable future.
Students are exploring options and finding some ways to take action for a sustainable future. So far they have participated in two environmental days - the first involved the senior class identifying and locating kahikatea seeds, then identifying and marking the female trees, and setting up seed traps to collect seed for propagation.
The students were fully immersed in the learning and it helped that kahikatea like to grow in wetlands, with plenty of mud around to keep the students entertained.
Day two was a productive day planting close to 500 plants to act as a wind break to protect the kahikatea on Amblethorn Station.
Omakere School's next steps involve further monitoring of the stand of kahikatea, gathering of seed, and planting of natives, flax and grasses around a nearby lake. This is another area that has been fenced off for environmental rejuvenation.
"It makes my heart warm when I see students changing the future of their environment," Omakere School principal Sue Taylor says.
