Pou guardian of replanted stream
It’s appropriate that a rahui post standing guard over a restoration project has been carved from a totara log fallen at that site, and thought to be about 200 years old.
That’s because the aim of the Friends of Mawai Hokona Stream is to cover the stream’s banks once more with the kind of lowland podocarp forest that existed there two centuries ago.
The recent unveiling and dedication of the carved pou marks the significant progress made so far restoring the environment along a 1.2 kilometre stretch of the stream running south from Trentham Memorial Park. The pou was named Hato Patariki (St Patrick), recognising that it stands on land owned by St Patrick’s College Silverstream.
Local carver Dane Kingi starts work soon on a second rahui post, which will be placed later at the southern end of the restoration site.
Mayor Wayne Guppy told the two dozen people who gathered at dawn on March 31 for the blessing that what the Friends of Mawai Hokona Stream have already achieved would be a legacy for ‘‘our children, our grandchildren and the generations to come’’.
The pou is a stern reminder the site is a ‘‘no touch zone’’ for anyone who might think of causing damage or removing flora, Guppy said.
The Mawai Hokona Stream is spring-fed and was an important water source for Maori in the 19th century and earlier. The name means ‘‘ scooping the water’’, Orongomai kaumatua Hemi Kara said.
Trentham resident Bart Hogan was acknowledged and thanked for driving progress. He told The Leader he lives close to Trentham Memorial Park and more than a decade ago decided he had to do something about Mawai Hakona Stream.
‘‘It was a disgusting mess really.’’
He formed the Friends group with his sister and brother-in-law Kerri and Brian Brickell and started lobbying the city council and landowners.
The first task was to remove willows, elders and gorse, and to persuade the college to end a lease arrangement with a farmer who was grazing cattle in and around the stream.
The planting of totara, kahikatea and other native species didn’t start until 2012 but since then more than 1200 trees and shrubs have been put in along the 20-metre strips on either side of the stream that the college granted access to.
Forest & Bird stalwart Russell Bell, who has helped with the work, said what Hogan and The Friends have done is ‘‘ awesome... a massive job.
‘‘Some impressive plants have gone in here. Just getting out the willows and turning them into firewood or mulch has taken a huge effort.
‘‘Some of the willows were growing in the middle of the stream... if anything is left of them, they just regrow.’’
Native plants have been ‘‘begged and borrowed. People have put in money too.
‘‘Around Bart’s house all you see is trees growing in pots and plastic bags.
‘‘It’s just amazing what he has done. During summer he has been down here just about every day carting water from the stream to [keep the newly-planted saplings moist],’’ Bell said.
The replanting has been carefully planned, based on advice from forest ecologist John Campbell.
Thanks to repositioning of rocks that sped up water flow in one pipe and slowed it in another where the stream meets Hutt River, Bell is reasonably certain that native fish can now make their way up Mawai Hakona Stream.
Hogan says that at the moment there is no evidence the waterway is looking any better. That’s because removal of all the pest plants has let in more sunlight and heat, and algae and weeds in the river have bloomed.
‘‘It’s a step backwards for the stream short term, but once the trees get bigger it will improve,’’ he says.
‘‘It’s a long term thing, and it will happen.’’
This winter will see the last full planting programme.
After that it will be infill planting to replace trees that haven’t survived the summer drought and a string of dry winters – one of them the driest winter in 70 years, Hogan says.