CHB Forest and Bird committee member Louise Phillips with one of the recently planted - and still remaining - native trees at Ōtaia/Lindsay Bush in Waipukurau. Photo / Rachel Wise
CHB Forest and Bird committee member Louise Phillips with one of the recently planted - and still remaining - native trees at Ōtaia/Lindsay Bush in Waipukurau. Photo / Rachel Wise
New plantings of native trees and plants at Ōtaia/Lindsay Bush in Waipukurau are being pulled up and stolen, say representatives of CHB Forest and Bird, and the saddest aspect is that the plants will not survive.
Volunteers from Forest and Bird hold regular planting days at the popular reserve, which is one of the last remnants of heavy native bush — once a ngahere/forest called Tarewa that in 1874 was said to have stretched from Waipukurau to Waipawa and was thought to be predominantly kahikatea.
Lakeview Kindergarten, Argyll East School children and Forest and Bird Central Hawke's Bay sharing a planting day held at Ōtaia/ Lindsay Bush in Waipukurau this year. Photo / supplied
The volunteers have a long history of working at the reserve, controlling pests and weeds including blackberry, old man's beard and invasive ivy.
Argyll East School students have taken part in plantings, and Lakeview Kindergarten tamariki, kaiako and whānau make regular weekly excursions to Ōtaia/ Lindsay Bush, being involved in community plantings and being given a small area to care for, becoming kaitiaki at Ōtaia.
Lakeview Kindergarten head teacher Sharon Sciascia says the reserve is a place where the tamariki learn respect for habitat, flora and fauna and experience the gifts of papatuanuku.
This has extended to the kindergarten site itself, now home to a shade house where the tamariki plant, water and nurture seeds collected from Ōtaia, growing them until they are big enough to be planted back into the reserve.
Kindy pupil Billie checks the plants being nurtured at Lakeview Kindergarten that are destined to be planted at Ōtaia/Lindsay Bush. Photo / supplied
But a spate of thefts from newly-planted areas in the reserve has upset the volunteers who are doing their best to protect and enhance Ōtaia.
"Volunteers arriving to check on the plantings and clear them from grass and weeds have found plants missing. One volunteer found a black plastic rubbish bag containing plants that had been pulled out and then discarded ... possibly due to the person being disturbed and taking off," says Louise Phillips, a Forest and Bird committee member.
"It is distressing that the work of volunteers, including small children, is being destroyed like this.
"More upsetting still, these plants won't survive.
"Native plants don't like being bare rooted, so the success rate for anything that has been pulled out of the ground — as these have — is marginal.
"It's vandalism. Hours of work have gone into preparing the ground, growing and planting, releasing, putting guards around the plants ... most of which have been donated, while others were purchased by fundraising."
Louise has a message for those taking the plants: "If you're that keen, learn to propagate your own. There are plenty of people who will teach you."
Central Hawke's Bay District Council has oversight of the reserve and chief executive Doug Tate says it's disappointing to see the work of community and volunteers taken for granted.
"Incidents like this highlight the importance of supporting the great people working to enhance community assets like Ōtaia/Lindsay Bush, and I'd encourage people to find out how they can support the great work of this group."
Central Hawke's Bay Forest and Bird is looking into placing security cameras around the reserve, but in the meantime they urge anyone walking or cycling in the area to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to police, including number plates of suspicious vehicles.
Police can be contacted using the non-urgent free crime line number 105.
