East Taieri School pupils and Kaitiaki Rōpū group members Beau Cowley, 9 and Eva Campbell, 10, ready to dig holes for native plants as part of a project to establish a wetland next to the school. PHOTOS: PETER MCINTOSH Ground has finally been broken in the development of an urban wetland around the back of a Dunedin primary school. Over the past week, pupils at East Taieri School have been excitedly planting the first of many new native plants to go into their wetland being developed in a section of the school. They started with 100 Carex secta plants. More planting days were planned for the rest of the school year. Pupils who were part of the Kaitiaki Rōpū were spending one lunchtime a week working on the wetland project. Group member Heath Ayers, 10, said they decided to go ahead with the project because it would help with flooding in the area, and provide a home for many aquatic animals. They also liked the idea of having a lot of plants in their backyard, he said. Bella Cvjetan, 10, said she and the other year 6s in the group were excited to have broken ground, as they were not expecting to see it up and running before they finished at the school. ‘‘We didn’t think we’d be involved in the planting ... so it’s our last year and we’re really happy that could be. ‘‘We’re so happy to be part of it.’’ Others were excited to have more eels to look at. Craig Simpson. East Taieri School wetlands project design and technical expert Craig Simpson said the project got under way after the health of the nearby Quarry Creek was analysed and they discovered it was struggling. The stream flows into nearby Owhiro Stream, on its way to the Taieri River. ‘‘We decided if we put a wetland in here it would provide some diversity of habitat for those aquatic fish and eels, as well as purify the water on the way down the catchment.’’ They noticed the school’s ‘‘wilderness’’ would make a great wetland to help improve the stream’s health. The wilderness was popular with pupils as it had bushes and shrubs to crawl through, and many trees to sit under — however, trees were rotting and becoming a danger, so they all had to be felled. Creating a wetland at the site would also serve as a great learning tool for the pupils. The wetland would have a volume of 343cu m, and as it developed into a flourishing ecosystem that could support aquatic populations, it would be used to teach the pupils about eels and the other animal life living there. The creek diversion through the wetland is planned for spring, once some of the plants were established. laine.priestley@odt.co.nz
