Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre community open day a good result

Hundreds of visitors turned up for the community open day at Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre at Mt Bruce recently.

A total of 944 visitors came through the doors on the Sunday of Labour Weekend, October 25, said Emily Court, the centre's general manager.

This was slightly down on the previous year but was still a very good result, she said.

"I really enjoy greeting visitors as they come through the doors and finding out more about them. This year I spoke with many large family groups visiting Pūkaha together, many for the first time ever.

"I also spoke to one lady who admitted that despite living nearby for 40 years she had never been to Pūkaha before and she had taken the opportunity to bring her grandchildren along to the open day.

"These types of experiences are exactly why the open day is so important to Pūkaha, we want all locals to understand the taonga (treasure) that is here on our doorstep and for everybody to have a sense of pride and ownership in the project.

"It was lovely to see such great support from Tararua District Council again this year – mayor Tracey Collis came along to show her support and councillor Raylene Treder joined Eketahuna Community Board members greeting visitors and collecting donations throughout the day.

"Pūkaha is very much a community project and this annual event is a really special way for the community to come together and enjoy this very special place together.

"Donations raised on the day go directly to supporting the forest restoration activities. Every little bit helps and we really appreciate the community getting in behind us," Emily said.

The next 12 months is going to be very exciting for Pūkaha with new developments under way including the launch of ranger training qualifications in partnership with UCOL (Universal College of Learning), a team of Rangitane carvers working on carvings for the new education facility and a nocturnal boardwalk due to be completed in January.