Meshak Nandan familiarises himself with the latest threat to the local ecology - a wallaby. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
Meshak Nandan familiarises himself with the latest threat to the local ecology - a wallaby. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
The Taupō environment is in good hands judging by the huge turnout at Greening Taupō Day.
An estimated 2000 people attended the event on Tauhara Rd, on June 7, alongside the golf course, where 3000 trees were planted and a huge carnival atmosphere was in place with an array of stalls and environmental groups and businesses showcasing what they are all about.
Kids Greening Taupō coordinator Rachel Thompson said pretty much every school in Taupō had children at the event and stall holders had come from as far away as Wellington and Auckland.
“One group travelled up from Palmerston North at 4.30am this morning to be here so really cool. It has become a real festival of environmental education for the Central North Island.”
She said it was a true community event with everyone pitching in.
Children line up to have a phtoo taken with their spades at the annual Greening Taupō day. Photo / Dan Hutchinson
“Epro [a pest control business] sent one of their employees out to the forest to shoot deer today ... and created 1500 venison sausages and donated them.
“Jude from The Bistro has done 150kg of soup with 100kg of vegetables from Misfit gardens so it is this amazing community coming together to provide free food for everyone and to put on this big event.
Even the cups for the soup were environmentally friendly - donated by worm farmers MyNoke.
“They are cups that don’t have the plastic linings that are usually in paper cups so they can be eaten by the worms. Those cups are used for the soup and you can take the soup cup to Mitre 10 and they can put a plant in it and you can take it home to plant in your garden.
“We are trying really hard to minimise the waste at our event as well and role model that for other events.”
She said the aim of Greening Taupō was to create corridors to link up the few areas of remaining native bush.
From left; Maeve Ball, Hazel Maharaj, Peggy Finn and Maia Ball from Richmond Kindergarten do their bit with the planting at the Greening Taupō day Photo / Dan Hutchinson
“We don’t have many areas of native bush in Taupō, - so Mt Tauhara, Opepe and then some regenerated bush out at Rangatira Point.
“The idea is to link up the sanctuary at Wairakei Drive with those areas, those corridors of native bush.”
She said Wairakei Drive had already been planted as a corridor, along Crown Rd and Centennial Drive as well and now they were planting out along the edge of the golf course on Tauhara Rd.
Residents could also help by having a backyard trap and planting some native trees in their backyard.
