Greener gullies bring the birds
Green Corridors, a Palmerston North project to use native plants to reconnect the Tararua Ranges to the Manawatu River, is flourishing.
Since 2001, the city council-supported project has seen 150,000 eco-sourced local natives planted, mostly by volunteers, along a series of streams and gullies.
The goal was to improve water quality, increase habitat for wildlife, and provide recreational access to waterways. And the birds love it, immediate past chairman Russell Poole said.
‘‘Neighbours of the Green Corridors are seeing whole flocks of tui, as well as ruru and kereru and their fledglings.’’
City council co-ordinator Michael Duindam said monitoring in the Turitea Reserve, which feeds into the Green Corridors, indicated that bellbird numbers had tripled, kereru had increased twentyfold, rifleman sevenfold, and tui sightings were up almost seventeenfold.
Water quality in the Turitea and Kahuterawa Streams had also improved, with the Turitea fit to be used as an incubator for eels.
Poole said the project had worked well as it started small, and lessons were learned along the way. ‘‘We had to find out which species were resilient enough to survive.’’
So far, only 20 per cent of plants had been lost.
It had taken time to educate the public not to expect an instant forest of native trees that did not necessarily belong to, or thrive in, Manawatu.
Poole said many neighbours had embraced the project, some willing to sign covenants to have their properties planted with exclusively eco-sourced natives, while others helped by choosing plants native birds appreciated, and supporting pest control.
The council has $34,000 in the budget
So far, only 20 per cent of plants had been lost.
this year. Starter Plants nursery supplied plants, with Ricoh New Zealand’s Palmerston North branch the key sponsor.
The project is one of three finalists in the Air New Zealand excellence awards for environmental impact, that will be announced at Local Government New Zealand’s conference on Monday.