Cust School students planted over 350 native plants on Cust farmer Steve Tallott’s land.
Over 350 native plants were donated and planted by Cust School students at a Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL) biodiversity project site, along Hunter’s Stream near Cust last month.
Environment Canterbury supplied additional native plants to fill in any gaps.
The site is part of Waimakariri Irrigation Limited’s (WIL’s) biodiversityproject.
It is one of 14 projects under way across the scheme, with two projects at the Cust River, three projects at Burgess Stream and one project each at the Old Eyre and Hunter’s streams.
Twenty-one Year 7 and 8 students spent three hours planting native plants at the 350sq m site adjacent to Hunter’s Stream on Cust farmer Steve Tallott’s land.
Year 7 and 8 Cust School teacher Nerissa Thompson said the students’ interest in improving water quality and stream health started last year, when a group of students wanted to clean up a Waimakariri District Council water race that runs behind their school.
“With the help of Siobhán from Enviroschools and Dan from WIL, we cleaned up the water race and then entered and won the Youth Award in the Waimakariri Environmental Awards last year,” Thompson said.
The students decided to use the plants from the nursery voucher they won, along with native seedlings they had grown in a school greenhouse, to improve another local waterway.
“After brainstorming ideas with Dan and Siobhán, they chose this site as it is close to the school, and they wanted to make a positive impact on their local environment.
“It’s all interconnected, and Steve Tallott has also been very supportive.”
Year 7 student Evie Winson said learning which plants should be planted near the edge of the stream and further back along the riparian planting strip was an interesting experience.
“Before we came to the planting day, we had been learning which plants go where when you are planting around a stream,” she said.
“We learned why certain plants go close to the verge of the stream and the qualities they bring to help improve the water.”
While one group of students was planting native seedlings with WIL biodiversity project lead Dan Cameron and landowner Steve Tallott, another group of students was carrying out a macro-invertebrate water quality survey with Enviroschools facilitator Siobhán Culhane to check the health of the stream.
Cust School has been an Enviroschool for over 15 years.
Cust School Year 7 and 8 students donated and planted over 350 native plants along the edge of Hunter’s Stream during a planting day last month.
Culhane said that during the last two years, since she had been working with the school, the students had focused on connecting with their local environment and implementing meaningful change in their community.
“We investigated what is happening in this section of Hunter’s Stream to see what is living in the water and to get a baseline measurement for future stream surveys,” she said.
“Today’s survey indicated that there weren’t as many invertebrates as we had expected, and there is quite a bit of sediment.
“However, we did have some exciting moments when we found two mayflies in the stream, so that indicates that there is a better habitat, and it’s what we are aiming for.”
Culhane hoped to visit the stream, once the riparian planting was established, to carry out more surveys.
“We hope to find many more mayflies,” she said.
“Today has been a great example of student-led environmental change in action.”
Year 8 student Leo Wright said he was surprised at how many creatures the stream contained.
“I didn’t know how much life there could be in one stream,” he said.
