Environmental Information
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Here are some stories for information and education
2006
By Adi Leng, NZ Association for Environmental Education Guardian 2 March 2006
The national Seaweek focus over March 5-12, is “One Ocean - Te moana takutahi” to remind us that anyone can make a difference and help take responsibility to protect Tangaroa's treasure, at anytime - Kei te matinitini te kawenga kaitiaki i nga taonga a Tangaroa.
 To start off Seaweek, the Manawatu Estuary Trust is holding its annual “Farewell to the Birds” on Saturday, March 4 from 10.30am at the Holben Parade, Foxton Beach. Ornithologists, bird experts, will be on hand for the public, with their viewers to identify the different migratory birds in their breeding plumage seen at the Manawatu River estuary before they return to the Arctic. Dr Peter Maddison, a nationally respected entomologist, will be available to talk about the food in the mudflats necessary for the birds’ survival. Bookings are required for the estuary boat trip from Foxton, phone Joan, 06 368 1277.
Locally, the Department of Conservation (DOC) is encouraging more schools to join their Seeds for School programme to help with sand dune conservation by growing the native sand binding grasses, pingao and spinifex, from seed and planting them out at our local beaches around Arbor Day (June 5th). DOC is also running competitions for students on the theme of Seaweek: 'Mighty Murals' for Years 1 & 2 to create a mural of a coastal or ocean scene; ‘Poster with a Purpose’ for Years 3 & 4 to design an A3 sized poster that gives people a message about how they can help conserve our oceans and coastal areas; and the ‘Power of Persuasion’ for Years 5 & 6 to write a persuasive argument that convinces people why they should conserve our oceans and coastal areas, in no more than 150 words. Contact DOC, 350 9700 to enter.
Te Manawa’s after school art programme will be featuring oceanic art, and displays can be seen at the City Library in the Square and the National Library on Tremaine Avenue.
 Forest and Bird recommends helping make fishing practices more sustainable by not purchasing fish like orange roughy because trawling for this fish, which should live to over 80 years old, damages the ocean floor and its habitat. Check out their website for best fish to buy: http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/bestfishguide
There are other things you can do anytime at the beach. Keep off the vegetation on the dunes, because it keeps sand from blowing inland. Dunes also protect the land from high tides and eroding wave action. Enjoy walking on the beach or if you have to take a vehicle, only drive below the high tide mark. Protect the birds as that is their home and keep dogs well away from their resting spots. Also, to keep the beach a healthy place, take your litter and any that you find, away.
Further from the beach remember that anything affecting the streams and rivers that drain into the sea affects New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone surrounding us. Only rain should go down urban drains and riparian planting can help protect streams from run-off. Every little bit helps keep the ocean healthy for sea life and for swimming in.
If you would like to see what else is going on over Seaweek, check out the website: www.nzaee.org.nz Seaweek is sponsored by the Department of Conservation, Ministry of Fisheries, Maritime NZ, BOC, St Kilda Marine Environment Trust, NZ Geographic, Sir Peter Blake Trust and New Zealand Association of Environmental Educators.
Celebrating Wetlands
By Adie Leng Guardian 27 January 2005
World Wetland Day is celebrated worldwide on 2nd February in recognition of when 129 countries signed a Treaty to protect wetlands in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971. There are now over 1000 Wetlands of International Importance, known as Ramsar sites, protected under this Treaty.
 Wetlands are areas that are permanently or seasonally inundated with water, which provide a habitat for plants that have adapted to this landscape, and for animals (insects, fish and birds) for feeding or breeding. Many different landscapes are described as wetlands. They can be beside fresh and salty water, in sand dunes or on deserts and mountains and known by names such as swamps, marshes, lagoons, lakes, ponds, tarns, estuaries and bogs.
Images of swamps, mud and water holes with mosquitoes are a side of wetlands that frustrated the early settlers. The first arrivals in Manawatu saw wetland forests, similar to the bush at Ashhurst Domain. They cleared and drained wetlands to have land for housing, farms and roads unaware of what benefits they destroyed.
Maori knew their benefits and used wetlands for sources of food, materials and medicines. Many farmers overseas work ‘with’ the wetlands for growing rice or cranberries - though they might have to deal with larger wetland animals than pukeko!
The hydrological values of wetlands have proven their worth when given the opportunity to regulate the water table between flooding and drought conditions. They also provide a habitat for a large number of birds, including ducks, and native fish, the babies of which make up whitebait, plus the insects, snails etc that are part of that food chain. They are also home to plants like the smallest aquatic plants in the world; plants with delicate little flowers as well as the grasses, raupo, flax, cabbage tree, kahikatea and pukatea that are more obvious.
There are many landowners, who have gone to great expense to restore a wetland on their property or protect what is present. Efforts are still required to keep wetlands from pollution and reduction but the numbers of people, who bird watch at the estuary and who visit the Ashhurst Domain wetland-viewing platform each year show an increasing appreciation of wetland values.
To celebrate World Wetland Day the Friends of the Ashhurst Domain Wetland are holding an open evening, from 5pm, for families to bring a picnic and enjoy a guided tour of the wetland bush and lagoon.
Come to the Party
By Adie Leng Guardian 20 January 2005
Working parties are advertised regularly on this ENM website, and in the papers by different voluntary environmental groups. It is an open invitation for anyone interested in enhancing the environment to come and do some work at a particular spot. Any help is appreciated and expertise is not necessary though you may learn a lot and have some fun whilst achieving progress.
Tree releasing is one of the most common party activities. It is required anytime following tree planting. Many people think that trees being released, sounds like wild animals being set free and wonder what it means. Well, they are setting trees free but it is not people holding them in captivity, it is pest plants or weeds.
 The sort of pest plants that need to be removed are grasses and plants that can grow faster and taller than the seedling and smother it or Convolvulus or other vines that can wind around it and bring it down. With the grasses you can then put them on the ground to act as a mulch for that plant. This also saves having to take weeds away. The activity of tree releasing sounds better than weeding, because you only have to weed around the base of the plant and for a small circumference near the trunk of the seedling.
Other long grasses and weeds that may be taller than the seedling just nearby will actually provide shade and wind protection that they might normally get in a bush situation but is not available in a newly planted area. The native plants that get planted first are called first succession plants or nursery plants because they are usually hardier and can cope with less protected conditions. Later succession plants require more shade, frost and wind protection during their early stages.
Depending on the time of year working parties can offer an opportunity to plant, water, mulch, remove weeds ready for planting plus digging holes or tree releasing. It is not onerous and there are social benefits. Even teenagers have said that they actually enjoyed the experience.
To try this experience there is the third Sunday afternoon at the Pit Park, different areas each month with Forest and Bird including Kitchener Park, Keeble’s Bush, Barber’s Bush and other areas less frequently. See the Events for information.
World News - 8 October 2004
NOBEL OF THE BALL
Eco-Activist Wangari Maathai wins Nobel Peace Prize Environmentalists across the world celebrated Friday at the news that Wangari Maathai, Kenyan activist and founder of the Green Belt Movement, is to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Green Belt Movement organized poor Kenyan women to plant and maintain some 30 million trees, at once battling the deforestation to which they are disproportionately vulnerable, providing thousands of jobs, and inspiring similar movements in other East African countries.
Maathai's story is inspiring in its own right, but it is doubly significant that the Nobel committee is acknowledging, for the first time, the crucial link between environmental health and peace.
READ HER INSPIRATIONAL STORY
What do trees have to do with solutions?
Thirty years ago, in the country of Kenya, 90% of the forest had been chopped down. Without trees to hold the topsoil in place, the land became like a desert. When the women and girls would go in search of firewood in order to prepare the meals, they would have to spend hours and hours looking for what few branches remained.
A woman named Wangari watched all of this happening. She decided that there must be a way to take better care of the land and take better care of the women and girls. So she planted a tree. And then she planted another. She wanted to plant thousands of trees, but she realised that it would take a very long time if she was the only one doing it. So she taught the women who were looking for firewood to plant trees, and they were paid a small amount for each sapling they grew.
Soon she organised women all over the country to plant trees, and a movement took hold. It was called the Green Belt Movement, and with each passing year, more and more trees covered the land.
But something else was happening as the women planted those trees. Something else besides those trees was taking root. The women began to have confidence in themselves. They began to see that they could make a difference. They began to see that they were capable of many things, and that they were equal to the men. They began to recognise that they were deserving of being treated with respect and dignity.
Changes like these were threatening to some. The president of the country didn't like any of this. So police were sent to intimidate and beat Wangari for planting trees, and for planting ideas of equality and democracy in people's heads, especially in women's. She was accused of "subversion" and arrested many times.
Once, while Wangari was trying to plant trees, she was clubbed by guards hired by developers who wanted the lands cleared. She was hospitalised with head injuries. But she survived, and it only made her realise that she was on the right path.
For almost thirty years, she was threatened physically, and she was often made fun of in the press. But she didn't flinch. She only had to look in the eyes of her three children, and in the eyes of the thousands of women and girls who were blossoming right along with the trees, and she found the strength to continue.
And that is how it came to be that 30 million trees have been planted in Africa, one tree at a time. The landscapes--both the external one of the land and the internal one of the people--have been transformed.
In 2002, the people of Kenya held a democratic election, and the president who opposed Wangari and her Green Belt Movement is no longer in office. And Wangari is now Kenya's Assistant Minister for the Environment.
She is 65 years old, and this year she planted one more tree in celebration and thanksgiving for being given a very great honour: Wangari Maathai has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the first African woman to receive this award.
After she was notified, she gave a speech entitled, "What Do Trees Have To Do With Peace?" She pointed out how most wars are fought over limited natural resources, such as oil, land, coal or diamonds. She called for an end to corporate greed, and for leaders to build more just societies.
She added:
"Our recent experience in Kenya gives hope to all who have been struggling for a better future. It shows it is possible to bring about positive change, and still do it peacefully. All it takes is courage and perseverance, and a belief that positive change is possible. That is why the slogan for our campaign was 'It is Possible!'"
"On behalf of all African women, I want to express my profound appreciation for this honour, which will serve to encourage women in Kenya, in Africa, and around the world to raise their voices and not to be deterred."
"When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope. We also secure the future for our children. I call on those around the world to celebrate by planting a tree wherever you are."
As she received the Nobel Peace Prize this week in Oslo, she invited us all to get involved:
"Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own."
January 25, 2005
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Regional Council information
Garden
Planting information from the Regional Council more info
Plant Pests of the Region: Horizons Regional Council
If you see any of the plants, in this pictorial list, growing in unusual places, please contact Horizons Regional Council 06 952 2800.
Plant Pests in New Zealand: Please do not encourage these pests to spread and consider removing them from your garden. Also watch out for potential plant pests of the future. Protect NZ has access to a
Downloadable Plant Pest Manual with photographs
Planting Native tree species in the Manawatu –Wanganui Region -> more info
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