Native tree conservationist to help scale up local planting projects

Environmental contractor Lisa Clapcott to help Manawatū landowners and groups to upscale native tree planting through Trees That Count

Local environmental contractor Lisa Clapcott has been appointed the Manawatū Regional Advisor for Trees That Count.

Trees That Count is a national conservation charity which provides free native trees, resources and advice to planting groups and landowners around the country.

In the Manawatū, Lisa will be working to identify and target appropriate sites which would benefit from planting or the establishment of permanent native forest.

"Anyone in Manawatū who is interested in restoring our local environment and native tree planting can contact me," says Clapcott.

"This is a great opportunity to find out what support Trees That Count can provide.

"As well as access to native trees from our marketplace, we'll be developing region specific learning resources and field-based practical workshops for interested planters across the region."

Clapcott says you don't need to be an expert tree planter to get involved.

"We know many people are interested in restoration planting but they're not sure where to start, particularly when it comes to weed eradication and site preparation. That's where we can assist."

Clapcott has been working professionally in conservation for the past 10 years and was Community relations programme manager and then biodiversity ranger with
DoC in the Kāpiti and Wellington region.

She was previously a regional representative with the QE11 National Trust in Wellington.

She is currently a part time environmental contractor, working in seed collection and restoration planting and maintenance, as well as pest plant control and monitoring.

This work is complementary to her role with Trees That Count.

Trees That Count runs a community marketplace where members of the public and businesses can fund or gift native trees which are then matched with planting groups and landowners looking to upscale their work.

To date, New Zealand is greener to the tune of more than 280,000 native trees which have been funded through Trees That Count.

Trees That Count was established in 2016 as a programme of Project Crimson, the charitable conservation trust which led the efforts to restore pōhutukawa and rātā from near extinction almost 30 years ago.

Trees That Count is also building a picture of the planting efforts in New Zealand every year by officially counting the native trees which are planted by community groups,
government agencies, schools and people in their own backyards.

This makes it possible to measure the collective impact of native tree planting. The live tree count is now well over 23 million native trees.

Trees That Count is supported by The Tindall Foundation and Te Uru Rakau, alongside the many businesses and individuals who are donating through the marketplace.