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The Styx River Catchment, 15minute drive from Christchurch city, is approximately 50 square kilometres. When early Europeans settled in the area in the 1850s, the Styx River and its tributaries were surrounded by extensive wetlands and sand dunes. Since then the area has been extensively modified through farming and drainage practices, and in some cases, by residential development.
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Christchurch, New Zealand is often described as a "city built on a swamp". Its waterways and wetlands are sustainably managed, including the voluntary tree planting project on 4 May 2008.
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Some volunteers come to the planting site by bike instead of car to lessen the green house emission.
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Why volunteer time to plant trees?
1. Trees are very useful in helping to reverse the Green House Effect. 2. Trees are important for providing habitat for the natural wildlife (fauna). 3. Trees provide shade for everyone, privacy, noise reduction from roads and neighbours. 4. Trees produce the natural beauty with its colors and textures. |
Amelia finds it necessary to listen to the planting instruction first.
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Step 1: dig a hole
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Step 2: take off the recycled milk caton in which the seedlings grow
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Step 3: loosen the bottom of seedling pack to enable the roots to spread out easily under ground
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Step 4: leave the broken milk carton in the hole (to speed up the decompostion) before put the young plant in it
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Step 5: cover the young plant with the soil digged out from the hole
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Step 6: strengthen the coat of soil by hands or feet
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This plant is called Five-finger because its leaves look like stretching five fingers.
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Otis, nearly four years old, learns from his father how to plant trees.
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The youngest volunteer also gives a hand to tree planting as his father told him the young plant will grow up as a big tree in 20 years time when he comes back to visit it.
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Otis digs hard with his toy spade little by little...finally he gets a hole for a young plant.
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Otis gets the soil back to the new plant.
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Otis tries to clean up his dirty hands after tree planting.
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The New Zealand cabbage treee can grow up to 15m tall, its white berry fruit was used by Maori for cooking. It is tolerates cold weather.
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This area was the Styx riverbed. It is hard to dig into the muddy soil which is full of river pebbles.
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Ellen plants about 45 NZ native plants - cabbage tree, boarder line, five-finger and shrubs.
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the family team work
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35 volunteers plant 2,600 Canterbury native plants and shrubs in the Styx Reserve on Sunday, 4 May 2008.
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It is a hand-on lesson for kids to learn to protect our native plants for future generations.
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Native plants are regenerating under the taller willow tree canopies that line many of the waterways. These waterways act as corridors for the upstream and downstream migration of birds, fish and plants.
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The convinent facilities - mobile toilet, tap water and BBQ are offered by Christchurch City Council for the volunteers.
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The volunteers are rewarded after 2-hour tree planting with BBQ, bread and sausage, soft drink and fresh apples.
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Ellen is happy to experience, understand and enjoy nature through tree planting.
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Meeting people and making friends is another outcome of tree planting.
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Everyone can do something to reduce carbon footprint for...
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...for the natural beauty we enjoy to see, for the sustainable ecosystem we enjoy to live, generation after generation.
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This is a significative activity. Everyone can do something for our earth mother. Everyone should do something for our earth mother.
shine yule · 2008-05-04: 07:51
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