Bexie Towle, Taiea te Taiao Project co-ordinator, pictured during the planting day to mark Conservation Week. Photo: Clare St Pierre.
More planting has been carried out in what is being developed into an ecological corridor between Maungatautari and Pirongia.
Jamie Hiriaki speaking on rongoa. Photo: Clare St Pierre.
The two maunga have successful pest control and restoration programmes and are separated by a distance of 40 kilometres – but linked by the Mangapiko Stream which runs through Te Awamutu and Pirongia.
In a video promoting the Taiea te Taiao project, Poto Davies calls Mangapiko “the veins of the whenua”.
Clare St Pierre – a Waipā District Councillor and co-chair of Maungatautari to Pirongia Ecological Corridor Incorporated Society – say landowners on the stream who do just “a little bit of planting” might provide a stopover place for birds to land and feed as the fly between the two maunga.
She said the biodiversity strongholds would feed into the corridor species like kereru and kākā so people would be able to see them in their backyards.
Conservation Week was marked recently with planting along the stream at the Daphne Street Reserve.
“We achieved a great outcome over the afternoon and we’re hoping to hold other events so more people can be involved,” St Pierre said.
Clare St Pierre planting. Photo: Bexie Towle
Vision with Clare St Pierre. Photo: BexieTowle
