WHAT SCHOOLS CAN DO TO SAVE NATIVE PLANTS

Kiwi students are playing a key role in the conservation of our endemic plant species. Here’s how to get involved

programme of its kind here.”

In Taranaki, as part of Moturoa School’s TFS programme, kids have been conserving endemic plants since the organisation began. Back then, they sourced six seeds from what was thought to be the last koheriki, a woody shrub that once thrived along the Taranaki coast. The flowering plant is now back in action and in 2010, the school won the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network award for its rare-species work. Students planted about 1500 plants last year, most of which are threatened local species.

For the past two years, students at Auckland’s Hobsonville Point Secondary School have been part of a team that’s ensuring the survival of wild herb Epilobium hirtigerum. Students have contributed to the survival of the precious plant, which has since become a valuable study tool.