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Putting his best foot forward Liam Burgers, 12 from Feilding Intermediate School’s “green team”, uses his initiative and gumboot to transport the mulch at Kitchener Park.
It’s not often a royal affair is graced with gumboots, spades and a welcome hot sausage.
There was no place for regal pomp among the “coronation trees” being planted at Awahuri Forest Kitchener Park, near Feilding on Wednesday, by volunteers and 200 schoolchildren as part of the Government’s gift to King Charles III.
This was an opportunity for young hands to muck in and for the forest’s protectors and its partners to acknowledge the efforts of many towards a shared vision for the wetlands’ restoration.
Awahuri Forest Kitchener Park Trust had been selected as one of 15 biodiversity projects across New Zealand to celebrate the King’s coronation through the planting of 100,000 native trees.
A wide range of species, suited to both wet and dry conditions, were planted, including swamp flax, cabbage trees, tōtara and kōwhai.
A thousand trees were funded through the coronation project, but the total number planted was closer to 2300.
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Brennan Laing, 11, and Bonnie Billington-Twose, 11, both from Ashhurst School, taking care with their young tree.
Trust chairwoman Jill Darragh said she hoped the pupils would return in future years and be able to show their own children the trees they had planted.
It was a special day, not only because they could include many of the children who took part in the park’s education programmes, it was also a chance to thank the many groups who played a role in realising the trust’s vision.
This included Ngāti Kauwhata, Jobs For Nature, Manawatū District Council, Horizons Regional Council, Recreational Services, Ministry for Primary Industries, NZ Forest Services, Trees That Count, the Department of Conservation, the Ministry for the Environment and Enviroschools.
Kitchener Park was a perfect and obvious choice for the Manawatū “gift”, said Emma Giesen from Trees That Count, who had partnered with DOC for He Rā Rākau Tītapu – King Charles III Coronation Plantings.
He Rā Rākau Tītapu translates to “a day a sacred tree is planted”.
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Ashhurst School pupils receive a lesson in planting before their mahi.
Giesen said she had been liaising with Darragh and trustee Bessie Nicholls for the past four years.
“I’ve felt through my conversations with Bessie particularly, the passion and care and kaitiaki that’s gone into this very special place, and it’s always been a privilege to play a small part in that, to realise this vision.”
As children began planting, Nicholls led a walking tour of the wetlands, focused on the challenges and damage to trees caused by the increased occurrence and velocity of floodwaters.
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Awahuri Forest Kitchener Park a hive of activity for the coronation tree planting.
She also posed a question on the wetlands’ future that she accepted was “a bit provocative”: Are we creating a park for people, or restoring a forest that is best served by the absence of human footprints?
“The choices are, we compact and put in more tracks for people to go through, changing the ecosystem again. Or we let nature take its course, which means it becomes a myriad of channels inaccessible to people, and it will become its own wilderness.
“What is this forest about?”
Nicholls said she didn’t have the answers, but as a governance the trust had to ask the question strategically, and it was for the regional community to decide.
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