Plant a tree for Mother’s Day in the Kaipara

Matakohe beef farmer and Kaipara Moana Remediation partner David Byles will be part of a free Mother’s Day community tree planting day tomorrow

Looking for something to do for Mother’s Day tomorrow - how about spending some time planting trees to help the environment.

Despite ongoing challenges with storms and flooding, strong progress is being made with the Kaipara Moana Remediation (KMR) Programme’s efforts to plant 20 million native trees throughout the Kaipara Moana catchment in just 10 years.

To help the project along, a free community planting day is being held at Kaiwaka this Mother’s Day, tomorrow, and will give locals the chance to contribute to planting another 1600 natives on the banks of the Kaiwaka River Reserve from 1pm-4pm.

Kaipara Moana Remediation (KMR) is hosting a series of community tree planting events to help achieve our goal of planting 400,000 trees this winter alone, KMR leader Justine Daw said.

”Rain or shine, we would love people to bring their mothers down and join us at our first event to plant on the banks of the Kaiwaka River on Sunday. We are working with our event partners Kaipara District Council, Te Uri o Hau Environs, EmGuards and Kaiwaka School to give the community a chance to come together and beautify the banks of the Kaiwaka River alongside the recently installed walking path.”

She said the day will help teach people the best locations to plant trees, how to protect trees from rabbits and pukeko, what species KMR uses and how planting near riverbanks helps reduce the impact of floods.

People are encouraged to bring a spade, sturdy footwear, gloves, a hat and raincoat, then put their names on the guards around the trees they plant and go back over the years and check on their progress

By the beginning of March, less than two full years into KMR operational delivery, KMR was working with close to a third of the estimated 1500 landowners in the Kaipara Moana catchment.

Over the life of the programme to date, over 500 landowners have taken, or are taking action through KMR, or are engaging with KMR to develop projects.

That has resulted in over 620,000 native plants across 137ha being planted or contracted for planting in riparian, wetland, coastal and highly-erodible areas.

More than 389 Sediment Reduction Plans (SRPs) have been developed and contracted to underpin specific plantings of native trees and grasses, with a further 35 SRPs currently in development.

To ensure the plantings are protected from farm animals, over 430km of fencing has been completed or contracted for delivery – more than the distance from Whangārei to Taupō and back.

For more information on KMR’s free community day at Kaiwaka this Mother’s Day, contact hono@kmr.co.nz