Weed busters do hard yards
Almost a year into their work, a hardy bunch of Upper Hutt weed busting volunteers are satisfied with their efforts.
The group have been cutting back and poisoning off Old Man’s Beard, the notorious white flowering vine, on the State Highway’s western hills.
‘‘Hopefully when people have been driving along River Road they’ve have noticed gaps in the bush canopy and seen how fringes of these areas are full of dead looking vines,’’ Upper Hutt Forest and Bird Upper Hutt chair Graham Bellamy said. ‘‘Well that’s nothing but good news.’’ Old Man’s Beard, correctly named Clemtis vitalba, is a white flowering climber that covers then strangles native and exotic trees and plants.
‘‘We would have done more than 500 hours with our weekly working bees and we’re really proud of what we have achieved,’’ Bellamy said.
The weed removal began in mid-2016 after Chris Cosslett, a local spraying contractor, contacted Forest and Bird about the increasing problem with the weed on the steep escarpment above River Road.
‘‘Chris approached St Pat’s Silverstream because they own land at the southern end of what was problem area and they agreed to fund that work.
‘‘So in July about six started in there,’’ Bellamy said.
Since they have worked their way north to Moonshine Road.
‘‘We have moved onto a major infestation area below Riverstone now, the area that follows the walkway from Moonshine Bridge to the Whakatiki River.
‘‘We cut the vines and put a paste on the branches to kill off the growth in the canopy. Later we will go back and spray any regrowth.
‘‘And the area we cut on the St Pat’s land has been commercially sprayed to catch any growth.’’
Bellamy said Old Man’s Beard wais also causing problems in Whitemans Valley, Mangaroa, Birchville, Maymorn Road and the Mangaroa Hill area.