Weeds no match for Uawa warriors

UAWA WEED WARRIORS: Tolaga Bay volunteers and school students helped remove harmful weeds from Parkers Bush Reserve. Organisers gave the team tools such as secateurs, hedge trimmer, loppers, hand saws, grubbers and gloves. Picture supplied

TOLAGA Bay community volunteers combined forces with school students to protect a native reserve from a harmful weed. The 18-hectare block of rare kahikatea forest called Parker's Bush was infested with Japanese honeysuckle.

Weedbusters and QE11 National Trust organised a working bee and invited members of the community to help remove the weeds, including students from Tolaga Bay Area School, and Gisborne District Council pest plant control staff.

The team, dubbed the Uawa Weed Warriors, also removed a number of woolly nightshade plants, a weed that poisons the soil.

The students took the opportunity to learn about the impact of weeds and develop skills to take care of the environment, teacher Richard Tuhaka said.

“We understand it is a mammoth task but every little bit helps.”

The work showed the students how short human life is compared to trees, said Tolaga Bay Area School Board co-chairman Alison Waru.

“Having the students doing this work secures the future of this bush. Some of them really get it and will carry continue the work in the years to come.”

Weed busting toolsOrganisers gave the team weed-busting tools such as secateurs, hedge trimmer, loppers, hand saws, grubbers and gloves.

The event is part of a wider project by QEII National Trust and Weedbusters to support community weed control projects in areas throughout New Zealand, and is funded by the Department of Conservation.

The Uawa Weed Warriors showed what can be achieved with a small investment and a team of determined helpers, event co-ordinators Anne Brow and Malcolm Rutherford said.

“New Zealand’s invasive weed problem is as serious as our predator problem and can only be tackled if everyone gets involved.

“It has been great to see the students, landowners and volunteers working together to free the plants of honeysuckle in this special patch of native bush.

“The skills they have picked up in weed identification and weed control is a great start to the wider project.”

They want to use the experience to develop a model of successful community and landowner collaboration that can be replicated for other similar projects.