Ovation livestock manager Will Faulks with Makauri School pupils Liam Grant, Lani Basker, Blue Lovelock and Trees for Survival Tairāwhiti facilitator Laura Watson getting ready to pot native plants, which they will care for over the next eight months. Photo / Kim Parkinson
Ovation livestock manager Will Faulks with Makauri School pupils Liam Grant, Lani Basker, Blue Lovelock and Trees for Survival Tairāwhiti facilitator Laura Watson getting ready to pot native plants, which they will care for over the next eight months. Photo / Kim Parkinson
Makauri School pupils got their hands dirty at a potting day today.
It was part of the Trees for Survival education and restoration programme being done around the country.
The whole school was involved in potting more than 1000 plants, with children wearing masks as a safety precaution because oflegionella bacteria found in potting mix.
Lamb processing business Ovation Gisborne sponsors Trees for Survival at the Gisborne school, and its livestock manager, Will Faulks, lent a helping hand.
Schoolchildren throughout the country have planted one million trees and shrubs since the Trees for Survival Charitable Trust was founded in 1990. Now it has set a bold target to plant a million more by 2030.
Trees for Survival came to Gisborne in 2023 and works with five schools: Makauri, Ormond, Ngātapa, Awapuni and Tolaga Bay Area School.
Year 2 students from Room 4 at Makauri School get stuck into potting native trees as part of the Trees for Survival education and restoration programme. Photo / Kim Parkinson
Tairāwhiti Trees for Survival facilitator Laura Watson started in the role in April and has already been part of five plantings on farms in Tolaga Bay, Muriwai and Ngātapa.
“My highlight would have to be linking the schools and their native plants to a keen landowner in our community,” she said.
“There are so many great restoration projects happening on farms in our region, so I love being able to link the schoolkids into these and help them understand the huge benefits of wetland and riparian restoration, and how the trees they have grown will help improve biodiversity and water quality.”
Each school has a potting-up day during spring, and the trees will be planted next May.
“I love seeing how much enjoyment both the children and landowners get out of the planting days and the satisfaction from everyone when all the plants are planted,” Watson said.
Trees for Survival has been working hard to reach more schools over the past few years.
“I have lots of landowners wanting trees but need to get more schools involved to pot and plant them,” said Watson.
Trees for Survival business development manager Sally Clegg said, “With the right support, we believe we can greatly accelerate the programme and work with more schools and children ... help us get to another million by 2030.”
That support includes donations from businesses and the public, along with landowners who make their farms and lifestyle properties available for planting.
Makauri School Year 2 student Evie Dymock fills a bag with potting mix ready for planting.
The Trees for Survival Charitable Trust was established by Pakuranga Rotary in response to Rotary International’s theme of “Preserve Planet Earth”. The aim was to work with schools and landowners to plant native seedlings on unstable and riparian land to increase biodiversity and offset carbon emissions.
The programme has flourished. Trees for Survival is now a standalone charity involving more than 250 schools and 7000 children across New Zealand.
“It’s a wonderful programme because everyone wins,” Clegg said.
“The schools have nurseries provided for teaching, children and high schoolers can earn credits for the primary industry programme, the landowners have native trees and shrubs planted, and the environment enjoys native restoration.”
