Coastal restoration project restarts for planting season

May 16th, 2011

The restoration project at the Raumanukas Reserve (also well known as The Kumaras) restarts this week for the ideal planting season through to September.

The organisers, Beth and Tony Bryant, are again calling out to the regulars who helped out over the past couple of years as well as to new hands who would enjoy a morning in the outdoors helping to regenerate coastal flora in this important reserve.

"2011 is the International Year of the Forest," says Beth, "so come along and plant a tree. Or there may be a new baby in the family or someone you wish to remember by planting a tree. Make it a family day." Today, the first gathering of the workers planted a tree in remembrance of Clyde Smith who helped with this project right from the start.

"We planted a te kouka because it is like the trees in the Dr Zeus books and Clyde helped a lot of children too, apparently," Beth says. His Memorial service was at St Andrews on Saturday.

The Raumanukas Reserve, encompassing the place where the first European settlers disembarked in the area, was abused for many years as an industrial and community dump, but is now being restored to its foreshore and wetland roots with the planting of thousands of suitable native trees. After a couple of years of work, the new plantings are now taking off and the vision for the area is starting to take root.

The site was a kumara garden when Europeans first settled, so it got the name "The Kumaras", but Maori prefer the name Raumanukas. For a while it housed an early abbatoir, and later was a general rubbish dump, including car bodies etc. Talleys used the foreshore in that inlet to dump scallop shells, which can be seen on many of the beaches around the inlet.

The site is now DoC land, and in September 2008 Beth and Tony, under the umbrella of Forest & Bird (they are the local committee), received funds for the restoration work.

Several dozen people have contributed hours here and there to the project over the years, under Beth's expert direction. Beth and Tony always add the incentive of providing a sumptious morning tea (the fruit cake is world famous in Motueka).

With a couple of thousand plants to be placed, planting will also be held every 3rd Saturday of the month when a barbeque lunch will also be provided.

Wear boots or strong shoes, sunscreen, hat, coat etc - dress for the weather. All tools and plants provided. Cancelled if its raining hard!

This eco-sourced planting is organised by Forest and Bird and financed by a Community Conservation grant administered by DoC. For more details, click here.

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