In April local West Melton landowners and Te Ara Kākāriki hosted an open day for visitors to learn more about planting native greendots.
Botanist and ecologist Dr Colin Meurk guided visitors through planted areas at Nut Point Centre that ranged from one to 5 years old. Visitors observed that in just five years, open paddocks had been converted to a forest of over three metres tall with a closing canopy.
Colin explained how to care and maintain the plantings and why it is important to plant the correct species for each site. The sites are getting to the stage where enhancement planting could soon take place, this is the process of introducing more sensitive species that are unlikely to arrive naturally due to lack of nearby seed sources. Landowners John and Brad have started this process by planting several kaihua native jasmine (Parsonsia heterophylla) and Colin suggested other drought tolerant ground covers and climbers such as tātarāmoa bush lawyer (Rubus cissoides) and puawänanga (Clematis paniculata) would be good future additions.
The Selwyn District has less than 1 percent of native vegetation left and Te Ara Kākāriki has a vision to plant small areas of native habitat every few kilometres to bring back native flora and fauna that once flourished in the district. Working with landowners is key to this and Te Ara Kākāriki assists landowners to plant native patches of greendots on their properties. Te Ara Kākāriki develops restoration plans for each site to ensure the correct mix of species is planted and co-funds the plant material.
