Once a term, a class from Midhirst School heads up the York Road Track in the Egmont National Park to help out the Department of Conservation. They clean the signs, check the predator traps and clear the smaller windfalls from the track. It's a job they've been doing for some time and one the Stanley Road School kids did before that.
Stanley Road School closed in 2005 and some of the funds left in the school kitty were given to DOC to purchase signs for the York Road track. They told the story of the York Road railway, the quarries in the Park and the mighty crusher, remnants of which can still be seen today.
Last year Midhirst School raised some funds to help buy replacement signs and recently the whole school and lots of parents joined DOC staff to walk the track and check them out. Even the five year olds did the tramp, ably assisted by their big buddies from the senior class.
"We're lucky to have the kids doing this," said Mike Tapp, Partnerships Ranger for DOC. "They not only helped buy the new signs but they're keeping them clean and the tracks clear in what is a really popular walk. They let us know about our pest catches too so they're a big help. They just keep on helping year after year so they realise that conservation is ongoing. That's pretty neat."
If you haven't walked the York Road track, head north from Stratford, along SH3 for six kilometres before turning left into York Road. The track starts at the end of the York Road. The branch railway evolved there in 1901. The kids haven't been there that long but their signs tell the story of the people who were.