A million trees planted
A restoration effort of a truely extraordinary scale
This winter, Greater Wellington planted over 922,000 seedlings in parks, wetlands, rivers and erosion-prone land across the region, with the help of mana whenua, keen landowners, schools and community groups.
Many green fingers, along with shovels, and gumboots, made this ambitious project possible, with 80 per cent of the young trees planted being native species.
Planting nearly a million trees in a few months is a restoration effort of extraordinary scale, but together, we’ve adorned Papatū ā nuku (Mother Earth) in a magnificent million-tree cloak.
A forest is a community — rich with diversity and connections — much like our local Kā pti Coast communities. Our community planting days were hugely successful, where everyone came together in the name of Papatū ā nuku.
Projects to restore our forests and natural spaces are at the heart of Greater Wellington’s kaupapa as kaitiaki of our environment and active responders to climate change.
Tree planting is not only incredibly satisfying to do, it’s also the most important activity for regenerating our ecosystems.
Our planting is not just on public lands that we control, it also covers planting programmes to support private landowners who want to save their soils, protect their waterways and improve water quality in their catchments.
Here’s how it looks by the numbers: 362,300 more native plants in Wellington’s regional parks, 34,850 more native plants in and around the Wairarapa Moana wetlands, 282,400 more plants preventing hill country erosion across the region, 64,000 more native plants enhancing our river management and flood protection systems, 135,700 more native plants on private land, complementing river care, biodiversity and land retirement initiatives led by landowners.
At our GWRC Akura Nursery we are incorporating more eco-sourced seedlings into our planting programmes. Eco-sourced or locallygrown trees mean the seedlings grow well in local conditions and enrich the biodiversity rather than replace it.
To prevent hill country erosion, we plant exotic species like willows and poplars. They grow quickly, producing vast root networks that bind soil and prevent mass movement. In some areas, exotics are planted with natives to provide shelter — a kind of natural nursery for the slower-growing natives.
The planting of nearly a million trees required a range of funding sources, including Greater Wellington’s own Low Carbon Acceleration Fund to help reach its carbon neutral goals, the Government’s Climate Emergency Response Fund, the One Billion Trees programme, and the resources of private landowners.