KEY POINTS:
A site left bare as a result of last century's worst financial crisis is being developed into what will become a small forest near Manukau City.
In fields off Great South Rd, about 2km south of the city centre, a big tree planting exercise is restoring vegetation around the Puhinui Stream.
Now owned by the Counties Manukau District Health Board, the land would have been the site of an agricultural college had it not been for for the economic fallout from the 1929 Wall St crash.
Wai Care coordinator Andrew Jenks said the institution was not built because of the crash and ensuing worldwide depression.
A small concrete bridge to nowhere still spans the stream. It was built to give access to the college.
It is now earmarked to eventually become part of the Te Araroa walkway, the walking trail that runs the length of New Zealand.
Mr Jenks said the tree and shrub plantings would help improve the health of the Puhinui Stream, which also runs through Auckland's regional botanic gardens.
It reaches the sea another 6km away, at the Manukau Harbour.
The vegetation would help with fish life in the stream by providing habitat for insects which would fall in as fish food.
It would also limit erosion on the flood-prone land, reducing waterway contamination from silt run-off.
Mr Jenks said four local schools were involved in developing what would be an outdoor facility.
They included nearby Manurewa High School.
The planting was financed by an environmental initiatives fund, which links groups and landowners with the expertise and resources of the Auckland Regional Council.
The money was made available through the Honda Tree Fund.
Under the nationwide scheme every new Honda vehicle sold generated the equivalent of planting 13 native trees, he said.
Since 2004, the Honda fund had paid for the planting of more than 109,000 native trees in Auckland and more than 350,000 nationwide.
The chairwoman of the regional council's environmental management committee, Dianne Glenn, said the assistance from Honda was invaluable.
Mrs Glenn said the Puhinui Stream was one of the most affected by urban development in Manukau
"Land and earth flows into the stream from development ... it can end up in the harbour," she said. "We are trying to correct that."
