Forever Trees/5000 Trees That Count

[Head to De Ville Place, off Lake Terrace Road. Further along,  at the Landmark on Lake Terrace Road opposite Lakewood Drive, is an off-road picnic spot.]

Ehara i te hanga. totally impressive, peeps!

Christchurch’s largest ever volunteer planting day happened here on 9 July 2022. The first spade-hole was dug at 9am and within two and a half hours 5000 trees had been planted. Wicked! 

The project was called Forever Trees (and is also known as 5000 Trees That Count). It was sponsored by your daily newspaper, The Press Te Matatika, with help from the Christchurch City Council and the tree-growing charity Trees That Count. 

On behalf of my feathered friends and whānau, I want to tweet an enormous ‘thank you’ for caring for this significant wetland. Waikākāriki Horseshoe Lake is home to many birds and critters. It also plays an important part in maintaining the health of the Avon Ōtakaro River. (Wai, of course, meaning water.) 

Whānau of all ages got involved as a way to offset their carbon footprint, too. 

The area is culturally important for Māori. Did you know a settlement was here in pre-European times? I’ve heard snippets about those times: stories originally told by my great, great, great ‘grand-bird’ ancestors.

As the proverb says: He rā whatiwhati kō (a day of hard work). People power! Collective community action! 

Let’s continue to care for this area. You’re never too young (or old!) to be part of Christchurch’s nature regeneration.  

Next steps:

Calculate your carbon footprint

https://toolkit.tanestrees.org.nz/carbon-calculator/

Nurture and maintain the native trees

https://ccc.govt.nz/parks-and-gardens/volunteer-in-parks/volunteer-events/avon-otakaro-river-corridor-volunteer-days

Another Horseshoe Lake restoration project