Grab your friends, whaanau and workmates, and head down to Arbor Day at Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park this Friday 3 June between 10am and 2pm.
Over the last 15 years, Hamiltonians have planted around 36 hectares of Waiwhakareke, a major ecological restoration project on the outskirts of Hamilton. Building on that mahi, this week more than 20,000 eco-sourced native plants will be planted by enthusiastic volunteers.
The plants will contribute to the Nature in the City programme, a project that aims to restore Hamilton’s native vegetation cover from 2% to 10% by 2050.
Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate said seeing Waiwhakareke transform from a bare farm paddock to a lush natural environment has been incredibly rewarding.
“Thanks to the efforts of thousands of volunteers, Waiwhakareke has become an amazing national treasure, tree by tree. It’s now a wonderful example of biodiversity and it will only continue to get better and better. I’m thankful for that because as our city grows, green places will become even more important.”
Everyone is welcome to come along and plant.
Planting will go ahead rain or shine unless there‘s a weather warning from Metservice. Please make sure you come well prepared with sturdy, comfortable, waterproof shoes or boots (gumboots are fine), a planting spade (not a shovel), warm clothing, and a full drink bottle.
If you’d like to come along to help plant some trees but can’t make Friday, never fear – we’ll be planting at Waiwhakareke every day this week from 10am to 2pm, in the lead-up to Arbor Day. Make sure you keep an eye on our Facebook event page where we’ll let the community know if there are any weather warnings and changes to the day’s planting.
This is a great opportunity to spend some time outdoors, get a little sweaty, and enjoy time with your loved ones. Nature is our most powerful taonga, and we know spending time in nature is magic for our wellbeing. Come along and help to shape a green city for future generations.
Arbor Day has been supported this year by funding of more than $100,000 – $44,000 from Trees that Count and $60,000 from the Lotteries Environment & Heritage Fund.
So come on down, do the mahi – get the tree-ts!