Jo Norrie helps out with the Greening Taupō Community Planting Day at Wairakei on June 17, 2023. Photo / www.abbydance.co.nz
Jo Norrie helps out with the Greening Taupō Community Planting Day at Wairakei on June 17, 2023. Photo / www.abbydance.co.nz
Thousands of volunteers have planted hundreds of thousands of plants over the past 10 years to transform some of Taupō's public spaces.
It is impossible to drive into Taupō without seeing the work of Greening Taupō, with saplings and other plants easy to spot along Wairakei Drive or Centennial Drive, and other places like Whakaipo Bay, Spa Park and along the Waikato River at Huka Falls.
Even Taupō Golf Club’s greens are now bordered by native plants, where a dedicated team of weeders meet weekly to maintain the site.
Rona Schur helps out with the Greening Taupō Community Planting Day at Wairakei on June 17, 2023. Photo / www.abbydance.co.nz
The community conservation organisation held its first community planting day on June 1, 2013.
Contact Energy provided the 3000 seedlings that were planted by locals that day, kicking off an annual planting calendar tradition, supplemented by many other events throughout the year.
So far, there have been more than 100 of these community planting days.
The 10th-anniversary planting on June 17, with continued support from Contact Energy, saw 170 volunteers plant another 2000 native plants along Wairakei Drive, which has been a key area of focus over the years.
Robyn Ellis sets a trap as part of her role with Predator Free Taupō.
Co-ordinator Robyn Ellis has worked for Greening Taupō for eight years.
She said things have become somewhat streamlined since the early days.
The planting at the latest event took just 40 minutes, thanks largely to the holes being pre-dug for the plants.
“We used to make people dig their own holes.
“In Taupō, it’s not that easy to dig a good hole!”
One thing that hasn’t changed is the enthusiasm and support of the community, with “more people and more plants” every year.
The sausage sizzle after each planting didn’t hurt, either.
“There’s more and more sausages on the barbecue, that’s for sure.”
Greening Taupō is part of Project Tongariro and began with a deceptively simple-sounding goal: improving the environment in Taupō for its people and native species.
The inspiration came from projects elsewhere in New Zealand and overseas to increase the number of plants and green space available to the public and local wildlife.
The hope was to take the success of predator-proofed Waikrakei Golf and Sanctuary and run with it, providing a ‘green corridor’ for the native species harboured there to safely spill out into the town.
Shorty (right) and an unidentified planting volunteer help out at the Greening Taupō Community Planting Day at Wairakei on June 17, 2023. Photo / www.abbydance.co.nz
The answer was Greening Taupō, which focuses on planting native species, which in turn spawned Predator Free Taupō and Kids Greening Taupō.
Predator Free Taupō focuses on trapping introduced pests as part of New Zealand’s wider Predator Free 2050 goal.
Since its inception, it has caught more than 4700 stoats, rats, possums and weasels, all of which threaten native bird species.
Kids Greening Taupō, which was founded in 2016, has also been a runaway success in its own right.
The organisation works with every school in Taupō, as well as many ECE centres, providing education and hands-on experience in conservation for young people.
Its resources and advice are used by schools nationally, and it has become a model of student leadership.
Many of the students involved help to manage the Greening Taupō community planting days, as well as participating in the days themselves.
Everyone gets stuck in to help out with the Greening Taupō Community Planting Day at Wairakei on June 17, 2023. Photo / www.abbydance.co.nz
All of these efforts are paying off, with more than 200,000 native plants added to the Taupō landscape.
The knock-on effect of this is visible throughout the town, with the public reporting sightings of once-rare species in urban areas, including kererū and kārearea/falcons.
“People are certainly noticing an increase in birdlife.”
Such a huge undertaking relies on both the community and companies to be on board, Ellis said.
As well as Contact Energy, Mercury, Taupō District Council, Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board and the Department of Conservation have all been sources of funding and support for the group.
“We’ve had some amazing partners right from the beginning.”
Shorty (right) and an unidentified planting volunteer help out at the Greening Taupō Community Planting Day at Wairakei on June 17, 2023. Photo / www.abbydance.co.nz
With a successful decade under its belt, Greening Taupō is showing no signs of slowing down.
