Pockets of the Central Otago landscape could begin to look several hundred years younger thanks to the efforts of a Cromwell-based community planting group.
Last Saturday, the shovels were out for the Mōkihi Reforestation Trust’s first community planting day of the year, where about 30 volunteers from Cromwell and Bannockburn spent the morning planting locally sourced native species at a site next to the Bannockburn Bridge carpark.
Mōkihi trustee Kirsten Finucane said volunteers were planting eight different species, including kōwhai, lancewood, ribbonwood and kōhūhū sourced from three nurseries based in Central Otago.
Much work had gone into creating the shortlist of plants for the trust’s three planting sites, including research into the species that would have thrived in the region prior to widespread burning events linked to the arrival of Māori and European settlers.
Dr Finucane said the trust had even consulted scientific research into coprolites — fossilised animal dung — to determine the types of plants animals such as the moa would have consumed in the region.
"So we know the lancewood, the kōwhai, a lot of the plants we’re planting, they were around."
The harsh Central Otago environment created several challenges for reforestation efforts, so the trust was careful to ensure its seeds and cuttings were from local plants that had proven capable of surviving the elements — a process the trust referred to as "eco-sourcing".
"We actually know where the father and the grandfather of these plants are.
"It’s important because in Central, we have so little water that if we don’t plant plants that are eco-sourced then they don’t thrive."
The trust has eight community planting days planned between May and November and has a goal of getting at least 650 plants in the ground in that time.
Mōkihi trustee and chairman Blair Walter said it had been reassuring to see a mixture of both new and familiar faces volunteering on Saturday, as it reflected just how much the community had embraced the project since its formation in 2016.
"In those first two or three years they’d be like, ‘who? What are you doing, you bunch of greenies?’.
"Whereas now there’s good support out there and awareness."
The support for the trust’s work had been bolstered by the increased level of public awareness about the climate crisis.
It also helped that its sites now supported more than 6000 plants between them.
"Seeing the plants growing and thriving keeps people motivated."
Dr Finucane said the proximity of the Bannockburn planting site to the Lake Dunstan Trail meant potentially thousands of people were being exposed to the trust’s mission and hopefully a template for successful regenerative practices they could take home with them.
"Lots of the cyclists who come through, they talk about planting stuff in their own places and doing this eco-sourcing thing wherever they come from in New Zealand or wherever.
"So it’s quite neat. It’s really taken over."
