Whareroa Supporters’ Update.
13th April 2012TALL WEEDS AND CHOKING PLANTS
Working Bee 1st April. It was a good session of clearing more weeds from the entrance area. This is a huge job – in 3 sessions, we have done perhaps half of the area. We decided to concentrate on tall weeds and those choking plants and to ignore the flat in-between weeds.
Many thanks to: Bill Jansen, Michael Stace, Tony & Helen Griffiths, Sue Blaikie, Rob Craven, Johannes Pankerteld, Penny & Ian Redward, Peter Kentish, June & Fred Rowland, Philippa Ruegg, Lyn Ellis, Peter Davis, David Allen, Dawn Bush, Simon Calcinai, Robyn and Anfri Hayward, Linda Kerkmeester, Angela McArthur and Ann Evans.
Some of our group continued weeding in the second half of the morning. Others went to QEPark for a workshop led by nursery manager Rob Craven on growing our own plants. This was very informative and several volunteers are keen to get involved with seed gathering and propagation, sharing the facilities at QEPark. Volunteers will be looking at trees in a 
new way, checking flowering and fruiting and gathering seeds. Rob stressed the importance of keeping detailed records. We learnt how to differentiate toetoe and pampas and were able to confirm a suspicious plant was indeed pampas. It is no more (see picture). Many thanks Rob for a stimulating session.
Theo Barsanti and Sascha Wassong moved stones up to the Cairn site in Theo’s landrover. Building is scheduled for next summer.
Farm Plan. Peter Handford is working on this. So far his team have been working out appropriate uses for diferent parts of the farm depending on Land Use Capability analysis. Then that has to be melded with the various miniplans – restoration, recreation, heritage, information etc. And then overall decisions need to be made as to the way forward for the next 10 years. A complex process.
The Dell. Visitors will have seen the gradual evolution of an improved access. This has been completed and it will be seeded next weekend so as to get both an autumn and a spring growing season before it will be sound enough for use next summer. Only just in time as the stream just to the west of the original track is actively eroding towards it. Community Service workers have begun clearing gorse on the north slope of the Dell. (pictured) This area will be planted as it is cleared to get native cover as quickly as possible. Small Carex were planted in the boggy valley bottom last year, into large pieces of carpet. This has been successful in preventing tall grass swamping the plants and the same technique will be used along the waterway at the entrance to the Dell.
Kapiti Pateke Lions have made a generous donation of $500 for plants. Their members would like to join us at a planting bee, probably mid June. Their plants will be used to complement the work done in the Dell by Kapiti College students last year.
Ti Kouka plantings. These have had such a good start with the damp summer, many small manuka and kanuka are now above the grass. Thanks to those volunteers who have been clearing these.
Nature. Two weta motels now have weta in residence. Glow worms were seen along Gums Track in the early morning.
Updates to put in the diary:
Working Bee Sunday May 6th
Rugby Legends Planting Saturday May 26th