Outdoor classroom opens at Bushy Park

Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall cuts the ribbon held by Ngā Rauru tumuwhakarae Te Pahunga Marty Davis. Wanganui Chronicle Photograph by Stuart Munro

Students can now gather outdoors on a forested ridgetop for lessons in Whanganui's Bushy Park Sanctuary.

Mayor Hamish McDouall opened a new outdoor classroom on Thursday. It seats 60 to 80 under a waterproof shade sail near the sanctuary's homestead and stables.

Mr McDouall said the sanctuary has been a special place for him for 40 years. He heard birdsong soon after its predator-proof gates opened that morning, and said it was a haven for birds as well as people.

Its 200 volunteers made it one of the top three community groups in the country, he said.

There were about 30 people at the bush reserve for the opening. They included Whanganui councillors and council officers, and had a guided tour first and morning tea afterward.

Ngā Rauru tumuwhakarae Te Pahunga Marty Davis gave the karakia to start the occasion. Ngā Rauru also named the new outdoor space. It's called Tāne Whakapiripiri - Tāne's gathering place of nature and humanity.

Bushy Park education co-ordinator Robin Paul said groups of students used to sit on plastic chairs or carpet squares on the asphalt, and the classroom is a great improvement.

This year 2000 students, both primary and secondary, are expected to visit Bushy Park for lessons. Most of the region's schools use it, and some outside the region are starting to as well.

The students look for invertebrates in the wetland, and find out how to track predators in the forest. They learn about plants, birds and insects. Some lessons are in te reo Māori, and take in rongoa Māori and bush lore.

"Everything we do is outside. Our walls are the bush, and everything we do is hands-on," Mr Paul said.

Teaching staff from the Conservation Department, Whanganui museum, Sarjeant Gallery and Horizons Regional Council are all involved - but most of the work is done by volunteers.

The group is applying for funding to enable low decile schools to visit, and to pay a part or full-time educator at the sanctuary.

"If capacity increases like this we are going to be basically living out here all the time," Mr Paul said.

The construction of Tāne Whakapiripiri was done by the Rotary Club of Whanganui North. It has been in a partnership with Bushy Park for three years, and also built its wetland boardwalk and classroom and added shellrock paths and signs.

The work was funded by $54,000 from the Eleanor Burgess Trust. Rotary's next project will be on the sanctuary's entrance.

In other Bushy Park news, two new buildings have been added - a shed for volunteers and a workshop.

Volunteers will be working this winter to track the mice in the sanctuary, and find out whether they can be eradicated. They are also looking for the myrtle rust disease, which can attack rata, and collecting seed for a national seed bank.

The Lottery Grants Board has donated $100,000 toward an upgrade of the sanctuary's stables building, and the Bushy Park Trust is applying for more money to fix the leaking roof of the homestead.