Father’s Day move positive for planting
SUNNY weather and a switch to Father’s Day proved positive for the annual Trees for Families planting event in Dunedin yesterday morning.
More than 60 people helped with group planting or watched the native trees going in beside the West Harbour Recreation Trail, near the Otago University Students’ Association Aquatic Centre.
Keep Dunedin Beautiful coordinator Allison Wallace said dozens of native trees had been planted by individuals and families to celebrate milestones and important occasions over the years.
This was the 17th Trees for Families event and ‘‘a forest of memories is growing at the edge of the Otago Harbour’’, a Dunedin City Council statement noted.
The latest event continued a partnership between the council, Keep Dunedin Beautiful and Rotary Dunedin.
Keep Dunedin Beautiful chairwoman Jan Tucker said the planting event was usually held on Mother’s Day, in May, but could not be held then because of the Alert Level 3 lockdown.
Good weather and switching to Father’s Day had produced a ‘‘really good’’ outcome, she said.
Rotary Dunedin president Gordon Tucker said the event had gone well and reflected a positive partnership between community groups and individual people and families working effectively together. ‘‘It’s a great thing.
‘‘There’s positive things happening out in the community —it’s not all gloom and doom.’’