Waimate mayor John Coles will plant the first totara in the Bushtown Heritage Forest Project which sets out to reforest a 2.5ha block at the Bushtown Heritage Park.
Members of the public, who have bought a tree in support of the project, will then plant their trees.
Headford Propagators owners Grant and Robynne Hayman collected seed from the Hunter Hills and raised 150 totara seedlings for planting at the park, this year, and are propagating further seedlings for planting as the project rolls out.
Mr Hayman said the progeny came from forests in the area. Totara, like so many of New Zealand's native trees, was a ‘‘beautiful'' timber tree, he said.
However, it was not a ‘‘first succession inhabiter'' and required shade and protection from the canopy of other trees so it could grow and develop, he said.
Waimate schools and other organisations will also plant about 20,000 native plants to provide the necessary microclimate for the emerging forest - some of which will eventually be sacrificed as the main totara forest develops.
Mrs Hayman said the whole township was behind the scheme - one of a number which sought to re-create the town's colonial identity.
Forest project organising committee member Jim Rayner said invitations had been sent to past and present residents of Waimate - individuals, families, interest groups or companies - asking them to support the project and responses had been very positive.
Participants will pay $550 for each totara sapling and the money will go towards the tree's care and it was also a means to raise revenue for the park, Mr Rayner said.
People can elect to plant their tree any year from now until 2012. The tree will be marked with a plaque and its details noted in records which would be kept on site.
The totara was widely used by the sawmillers who settled in Waimate in the 1800s. The lumber from the area gained a reputation for quality and was shipped to many parts of New Zealand and overseas.
Its durability saw the totara also used extensively by farmers for making fence posts, many of which can still be seen throughout the district.
The Bushtown Heritage Park, when completed, will re-create the early Waimate township and district. It will include a reconstruction of the early township and the early sawmills which played their part in the development of Waimate. The event will begin at 1.30pm.
After the planting, Devonshire tea will be served in the new storage shed at the rear of the site.
Organisers said period dress would be fitting for the occasion, although it was optional.
