Department of Conservation ranger Paul Cashmore planting native trees at Hamurana Springs dedicated to rugby legend Hika Reid. Photo / Stephen Parker
Department of Conservation ranger Paul Cashmore planting native trees at Hamurana Springs dedicated to rugby legend Hika Reid. Photo / Stephen Parker
Local rugby legend Hika Reid's sporting career has been remembered with a final public planting of trees at Hamurana Springs.
More than 100 native plants were put in the ground yesterday at the reserve as part of the Living Legends project which saw rugby greats joining New Zealanders to plant170,000 trees throughout the country. The Hamurana Springs reserve is co-managed by the Department of Conservation (DoC) and Ngati Rangiwewehi.
DoC ranger Paul Cashmore said this was the third and final planting session at the site which was dedicated to Reid who played 40 matches for the All Blacks including nine tests. His last involvement with a national side was with the New Zealand Maori on the 1987-88 tour of Europe and Argentina.
The first phase of planting occurred in 2011 to coincide with the Rugby World Cup and about 2500 trees were planted. Similar numbers were planted last year and yesterday was about filling in the remaining gaps, Mr Cashmore said.
"It's a farming environment around the area so the planting provides a riparian buffer for the native vegetation. It's also been associated with a lot of weed removal and replacing them with appropriate natives while maintaining the catchment section and adding scenic value to the reserve."
Mr Cashmore said DoC had about a further 7000 plants for Hamurana, Whangapoa Stream and Lake Ngahiwa. Students from Waikite and Atiamuri schools will be helping out this week.
"We're always keen for volunteers to help so anyone interested just get in touch with us," Mr Cashmore said.
The next public planting session will be at the Tarawera Trail on Saturday, October 4.
• Anybody interested in volunteering as part of any of DoC's upcoming planting days should email DoC partnership ranger Caraline Abbott, cabbott@doc.govt.nz or phone (07) 349 7412.
