Scored 160 natives to plant out!

Hamilton City Council rang this morning to say they had “left over” plants in their nursery and seeing we had damp areas in the areas of the gully we have cleared of honeysuckle would we like a selection of understory plants to plant out. I was going to be over that side of town this morning with my trailer so I arrange to call into the nursery and pick them up. The result is we have approximately (a bit hard to count on the trailer) 160 eco-sourced native plants to plant at tomorrow’s (Wednesday) working bee. Isn’t that great?
This is not just about Council “getting rid” of end of season stock it is acknowledgement by council of the good work our group has done and a means of supporting our effects.
There will be four of us at the working bee tomorrow but with this number of plants to plant out a few extra hands would be good. I know most of you have a job to go to but those that don’t and have a free morning it would be good to see you.
We meet at the St James side of the walk bridge at 8.45am (or when you can make it). Bring a spade (smaller the better) and a garden trowel. Some plants are quite small, and a drink & morning tea for yourself.

Plant varieties and numbers:

Melicytus micranthus x 42
Coprosma grandifolia Rauekau x 25
Coprosma tenuicalis Swamp Coprosma x 2
Coprosma propinqua Mingimingi x 30
Geniostoma rupestre Hangehange x 23
Kunzea ericoides Kanuka x 7
Coprosma rhamnoides Red fruited Karamu x 15
Beilschmiedia tawa Tawa x 5
Alectryon execelsus Titoki x 10
Aristotelia serrata Wine Berry Makomako x 1

Donate a tree

We now have a cheque book account opened. For those that cannot participate because of their busy life style but wish to support our cause there is an opportunity to donate a tree/s to plant into the swamp areas. Wayne Bennett of Forest Flora Nursery has some large eco sourced specimens of Kahikita, Pukatea and Swamp Maire that can be safely planted at this time of the year.
If you wish to donate:
Using internet banking transfer $15 per tree for a Swamp Maire to account 12-3171-0184290-00 add a code SM or $10 per tree for a Kahikatea or a Puketea add a code KAPU. (or $25 SMKAPU for one of each)
If you only use the old system write out a cheque to “Mangaiti Gully Restoration Group” and post it C/- R. Bushell, 7 Carisbrook Place, Rototuna North, Hamilton 3210.

Saturdays working bee

Time: 8.45am to 12noon
Place: The foot bridge
Bring: Morning tea, Gum boots (it’s dried out a lot but still has wet patches), Pruners. Sun screen and hats are optional as we will be working in the shade.

Wednesday Working Bee

We worked off site for the first time this Wednesday cutting bamboo for staking tree. We gathered, trimmed and cut to length over 200 plus a lot of “shorts” not shown in the photo.

Regeneration at Mangatautari

After four years of the total eradication of deer, pigs, goats and possums the regeneration of the forest floor is amassing. This photo essay was taken on the south side of the mountain last Monday.

Field Day reminder for this Saturday

A reminder about the field day at Peter Morris’s Matangi gully property this Saturday 13th November starting at 1.30pm. His address is 67D Fuchsia Lane which is right off Matangi Road heading south from Morrinsville Road (almost to Matangi Village). If it is wet it will be postponed to the following Saturday. Check our blog if in doubt.Peter started clearing the gorse and planting natives in his 6 acre gully 30 years ago. You get a great view from his neighbours of the classical gully slope to swamp floor planting which you normally only see diagrammatically. Peter also runs a small native plant nursery so there will be an opportunity to see various stages of seed raising of a number of our native species. BRING GUMBOOTS!

Image from http://gullyguide.co.nz/files/Gully_Guide_Mar07.pdf

Weekend Working Bee coming up

The November weekend working bee is on Saturday 20th. Working bees are a very important part of the overall restoration project. We assemble at the foot bridge at 8.45am and work through to 12 noon stopping for morning tea. At the moment we are clearing the honey suckle vine off the native plants. This is relatively easy work. The vines do not have any thorns and we are cutting the vine leaving it to die in the trees and pulling up the roots to prevent them re-growing. Bring along your morning tea, pruning shears and if you have them loppers (big pruning shears) and a grubber.
The photo is of a new sign put up this week supplied by Hamilton City Council.

Taking this Wednesday off

There will be no working bee this coming Wednesday 27th Oct. With the short week and excellent progress we are taking a week off.
The next Wednesday working bee will be on Wednesday morning 3rd Nov from 8.45am to 12noon. These morning only working bees are working out well. We all get home for lunch and find they are not too disruptive to the day.
If any of you are out walking check out what we have been up too. If you go down under the bridge on the St James Drive side you will see the work we have done on both sides of the bridge. Most involved the clearing of the creeper, Honey suckle away from native flora. On the south side in a blind gully behind No.62 St James you will see an excellent stand of Astellia Grandis (It looks a bit like flax and is over 1 metre high).

Our First Saturday Working Bee

Our first monthly Saturday working bee is this weekend Oct16th.
Time: 8.45am to 12 noon
Where: St James side of the walk bridge. Access is from beside either 64 St James Drive or 2 Grenache Place off Coleraine Drive.
What to bring: Your morning tea, gumboots, gardening gloves and either / or loppers, grubber, garden shears (no slashers please for safety reasons). Wear clothes that you do not mind getting dirty!
The weather looks fine for Saturday but bring a rain jacket if showery.
We look forward to see you.

Wednesday Working Bee
We had our second Wednesday working bee. We tidied up and cleared part of an old wire fence and cleared some dead gorse at the entrance to the bridge on the St James side. In the gully we planted 10 good size Kahikatea and uprooted more Honey Suckle.
There were some good positive comments from locals out walking.

A Field Trip for November

A field day has been organised to Peter Morris’s Matangi gully property on Saturday 13th November starting at 1.30pm. His address is 67D Fuchsia Lane which is right off Matangi Road heading south from Morrinsville Road. If it is wet it will be postponed to the following Saturday. Check our blog if in doubt.
Peter started clearing the gorse and planting natives in his 6 acre gully 30 years ago. You get a great view from his neighbours of the classical gully slope to swamp floor planting which you normally only see diagrammatically. The photos do not do justice to the view as the camera really needed a wide angle lens.
Peter also runs a small native plant nursery so there will be an opportunity to see various stages of seed raising of a number of our native species.
Note the date in your diary.

Wednesday's Working Bee

Four of us turned up for the first Wednesday working bee. We made great progress in brilliant weather by uprooting mainly Japanese Honey Suckle from an existing native flora area that was dominated by Astellia Grandis .
We would like to get the available Wednesday numbers up to about 8 to 12. Not everyone will be able to get along every week so we would have about 6 to 8 people on a working bee. That would get through a lot of work each week. The work is interesting, varied and very satisfying.
If you know of a retired, stay at home, out of work or work from home glide time person that would be interested please encourage them along or to ring Rex 854-0973 for more information. We gather at the foot bridge at 8.45am Wednesday mornings and finish at 12 noon. Get them to bring a morning tea for themselves. Gum boots are required at the moment as it is still pretty wet on the gully floor.

The picture shows an area cleared of Honey Suckle leaving the natives to flourish. The tree trunks in the back ground are Grey Willow. These will eventually be killed off to naturally rot and fall.

Lets Get Started

Weekly Wednesdays
We will start off with having mid week working bees every Wednesday 8.45am to 12 starting this Wednesday 6th Oct. Note it in your diaries. We will meet under the walk bridge accessible from beside either 64 St James Drive or 2 Grenache Place off Coleraine Drive. That is where the open day was held.
I have just come back from a visit to the gully with Paul Duffy, HCC. We have 10 x good sized Kahikatea to plant in an Astelia grandis area.
The focus will be on clearing Honey Suckle and cleaning up the area on either side to the foot bridge with the view of some council planting in this area next winter.
Bring: Morning tea, gumboots, gardening gloves, loppers or hedge cutters or garden shears (no slashers please for safety reasons).

Monthly Saturdays
Oct 16th (Morning because of DOC’s 1pm workshop) Nov 20th, Dec 18th. That is the third Saturday in the month. Could I have feedback on your preference for either morning 8.45am to 12 or afternoon 12.45 to 4pm? We will only have one on the day so the highest number responding to morning or afternoon will win! Thanks.

A Banker
We require a person to operate a bank cheque account for the Group (there will be two signatures on all cheques). This is very basic stuff. We have not yet opened an account so what bank we use is negotiable. If you can help please email Rex at gullyrestoration@gmail.com or give him a ring on 854-0973.

Want Stuff
There is a new page (see tag right hand column) listing things that we require for use in the gully restoration project. Mostly it will be things that you may have lying around your home or at your work that may be of no value to you but saves the group using its limited funds (none existing at the moment!) to buy.

DOC Track Building Workshop Saturday 16th 1pm
DOC is running this in Hamilton. This is very timely for our project. It is being held at the gully at the back of Siverdale School. Park either in the school car park or on the road and meet at the far corner of the playing field next to the swimming pool.
If you are going on your own and would like to car pool email Rex at gullyrestoration@gmail.com

Back Yard Biodiversity in Canterbury
Published by Lincoln University with the help of funding
from Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust.
This is well worth a read http://tinyurl.com/yzvypsg

Open Day Report

We had 30 visitors attend the day. It was supported by Group members Robin Holdsworth, Greg Evans, Annelise Rogerson and myself. Speakers were, Robin Holdsworth , Wayne Bennett of Forest Flora Nursery, Gerard Kelly HCC Community Planting Co-ordinator and Tim Newton HCC Gully Restoration Officer. Thanks for all their help and support to get the day organised.
The weather held off and the gully was sheltered from the strong wind.
We now have 29 email addresses registered to receive the newsletters plus another 21 representing support organisations. We thank all those people for their interest, and understand that not all will want to be actively involved and that is fine.
Over the next few weeks we will spend a bit of time getting things together and forming different interest groups. A communiqué will come out inviting those that wish to become more involved in these groups. In the mean time don’t be shy. If you are really keen or have good organisational skills get in touch and we can have a chat about your skills on offer.
Wayne Bennett listed 18 different native flora species as he was walking around the gully. I have listed these on a new page “Existing Flora”. This page will be built on as information is gathered.

All go for the Open Day

We have decided to go ahead with the Open Day. We are expecting passing showers so dress accordingly; rain jackets, umbrellas and gum boots. For those that will not be attending but wish to be kept up to date on what is happening register your email to receive newsletters on; gullyrestoration@gmail.com
We look forward to seeing you there.

Weather for Saturday?

I am monitoring the weather closely. We are reluctant to postpone the Open Day unless we really need to. I will post a decision by 9am tomorrow (Saturday) at the very latest.

Image source: TV1 website

A Mangaiti Gully Restoration Open Day.

Saturday 18th September
1pm
To be held below the foot bridge.
Accessible beside 64 St James drive or 2 Grenache Pl off Coleraine Drive, Rototuna.

The objective of the open day is to see how much interest there is in the community in a local gully restoration project and to show case the gully’s potential. This will be measured by how many people register their email addresses onto the restoration group’s email news letter list.
Restoration in its very basic form is to clear areas of foreign weed and plant species and replant in native flora however we are hoping that there is enough interest to set up a number of groups with interest in biodiversity within the gully ecosystem.
This could involve recording and photographing existing native flora, monitoring bird species and numbers, surveying the existence of native fish in the stream and designing an eco system to support them, investigate the possibility of creating ecosystems to support the re- introduction of native lizards, insects and molluscas, surveying the possibility of a bat colony in the gully system, pest control of rats, possums, hedgehogs and mustelids. For the keen gardeners perhaps growing eco – sourced native seeds for future plantings.
It is possible that some of these group activities could become school projects.

We think it is important that people understand that they do not have to be an expert in any of these fields. Hamilton is very lucky to have a wide range of resources to draw on for support and guidance. Hamilton City Council is very well organised to support community plantings and work in closely with anyone that is committed. Waikato University has a number of researchers covering all the fields of biodiversity and has done a number of research papers on Hamilton gully systems under the guidance of Bruce Clarkson, Department of Biological Science. And then there is DOC, Landcare and Environment Waikato all of which have their specialities.

Photo supplied by Hamilton Press

Promoting the open day

• There is a news article on page 7 of the 18th August Hamilton Press community news paper in support of our open day.
• Rototuna School and Hukanui School have been approached to see if they would put an advert in their news letter for our open day. I am not sure if this is possible as I do not know what their school policy is.
• Requests have gone to the Ornithological Society and the Forest and Bird soliciting their support. The response was positive and enthusiastic.

Page updates

• Revised and updated the “Planting List” page with input from Paul Duff and Wayne Bennett.
• Updated the map and added a google earth view to “The Gully” page.

Gully visit with Hamilton City Council

Monday 26th July
Paul Duffy, Contract Supervisor – Natural Areas, Hamilton City Council and I walked the gully as a follow up on last Wednesday’s meeting to further familiarise ourselves on what the gully offered and to discuss potential restoration options.

Meeting with interested parties at Hamilton City Council

On Wednesday 21st July Robin and I had a meeting at Hamilton City Council with Gerard Kelly, Community Planting Co-ordinator, Paul Duffy, Contract Supervisor – Natural Areas, and Tim Newton, Gully Restoration Officer.
On the agenda was:
Councils long term vision for the gully
Objective for the open day set for 1pm on Sat.18th Sept.
Suitable speakers for the open day and the format.
A draft public invitation mailer was tabled
How to use an email list and blog for effective communication to interested people
Funding options
Possibility of Maori involvement and contacts.

Birds around the gully

A Tui was seen today in the gully at the back of Hukanui School. A Grey Wabler was heard a few days ago in a heavily treed property very near the gully. If we can get the rat numbers down it would be great to get the numbers up with successful chick rearing.

Tui photo from www.tuiscope.co.nz/

Grey Warbler photo from http://blog.forestandbird.org.nz

Planting list pubished as a page above.

All future planting in the reserve gully area should be eco sourced and comply with the planting list.
This list is an extract from Hamilton City Council Gully Reserves Management Plan Dec 2007 Appendix 3
The list is an extract from a report by Landcare Research prepared by Beverly R. Clarkson and Bruce D. Clarkson in 1997 (revised April 2000) for the Ministry of the Environment.

Tree planting at Waiwhakareke

I went tree planting with Conservation Volunteers at Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park (Horse Shoe Lake) which is out by the Hamilton Zoo. Four of us planted 800 trees in one day. A good result I thought. Check out their website for more information as to what they are about and the history of the place. http://www.waiwhakareke.co.nz/

Advised property owners

Notes were delivered today to the properties number 18 to 60 St James Drive and properties at the end of Bayswater Crescent between number 6 and 9 all of which back on to the gully, to advise them of what was happening regarding a service track and referred them to this blog for more information.

Starting to cut a service track

A day was spent cutting a service track from just north of the walk bridge on the west side across the creek and up the east side of the gully going north keeping to the base of the gully sides up to the back of No. 32. Quite a few people have been doing planting. However types of plants varied from exotics, natives that would not normally have been in this type of gully system, domesticated natives to the genuine thing. A page will be set up on this blog of plants that are suitable for the gully sides so those wishing to plant can do so with the correct plant types that are eco sourced. Always consider the ultimate height of the tree. The larger trees like Totara and Rimu should be planted near the bottom of the gully sides while the smaller trees like Kowhai and shrubs can be planted never to the tops.

Article by Wayne Bennett

Article submitted by Wayne Bennett of: http://www.forestflora.co.nz/
Forest Restoration is not Gardening. In a garden we choose the plants we like the look of and modify the ground to suit the plants:- --- When restoring natural areas we think of natural patterns and processes. Rather than modify the site to suit a plant we choose the plants to suit the site: ----- This is an important starting point for anyone interested in restoration. Read the whole article. The tag for this page is above.

The Gully Page

Posted "The Gully" page today. Click on the tag above to view.

Set up a links page

Check out a new links page. If you know of others please tell me and I would be happy to add their website link.

(A DRAFT) Gully Restoration Vision

Just posted the first "page". See the tag at the top of this (Home) page. Feed back, corrections, additions, guidance, comments would all be welcome.

Extracting Kowhai seed for their pods

It was a wet day yesterday when the pods were collected . This made the pods soft and easy to open to extract the seeds.

The previous pods collected were dry and hard to extra.

Gathered eco sourced kowhai seeds

Kowhai seeds were gathered from the Waikato river bank just south of Te Awa reserve. For those that may be interested in getting their own you drive down Pencarrow Road, which is left off the Hamilton airport road from Tamahere, just before you go over the bridge. Te Awa road is off to the right. You can park at the reserve and walk down to the river on a track. Go south (up river) a little further than the end of the track and there are three very old Kowhai trees half way up the bank. At this time of the year pods could be collected off the ground. Earlier in the year you would need a poll with a hook to get the pods off the trees.

Rescued Kowhai Seedling

My wife rescued this kowhai seedling from a crack in a concrete path at Waikato Uni! It is well formed so I am hoping it does well in it's new home.

Check pest proof fence

I went to Maungatautari Mountain and did the monthly check by walking a 2km section of the 47km pest proof fence. There is a vehicle service track on the outside that follows the fence line. At times this gets worryingly steep when you are in a vehicle! This fence is made from a stainless steel mesh and is a permanent barrier to all mammalian pest species. The inside has been pest free for the past 4 years enabling the native flora and fauna to fully recover.

Kahikatea Seedlings

Potted up 27 Kahikatea Seedling from under a Kahikatea tree in the gully behind Hukanui School. These are eco-sourced.

A paper by Clark & McQueen

This link is a pdf file of a paper by Bruce Clarkson & Joanna McQueen titled Ecological Restoration in Hamilton City, that was present to the 16th International conference, Society for Ecological Restoration, August 24 – 26, 2004.
This paper gives an excellent overview and back ground of gully restoration in Hamilton.

Pest control in the gully

After a discussion about pest control with the Dept of Conservation a summary is as follows:
· Start control July to reduce rodent numbers by Oct 1st bird breeding season.
· Nov there is usually a number increase spike
• Survey the area into a maximum size of a 75metre square grid. One bate station per grid.
· DOC can supply a spread sheet to record a track monitoring system. See photo.
· Recommended “mini-philproof” bate stations. http://www.philproof.co.nz/gen_showproduct.php?cat=3
· This would cover possum & rat poisoning from the same station
· Recommended to use the second general coagulant poison brodifacoum.
· brodifacoum is marketed under several names, one is Pestoff , http://www.pestoff.co.nz/products.htm
· Poison bates available at rural retailers. Wrightson or RD1
The photo is of a track monitoring system. The black is a non drying ink. The brown is peanut butter. The blue/green is poison bate. The animal walks on the ink and leaves it’s foot prints on the white board.

Hukanui School Gully Restoration & Eco Class Room

I had a guided tour of the gully at the back of Hukanui School that they have been clearing and replanting with eco sourced native plants for over 10 years. They grow their own seedlings in a specially constructed nursery on the school grounds. Other plants are supplied by Hamilton City Council. The gully is used by the school children as a recreation wildness area as well as the restoration as a resource for school projects.

I was shown through the eco class room. Now this was impressive. It has been designed as a teaching resource as well as being used as a class room so there are a number of inbuilt monitoring devices to help children doing their environmental projects.

Time to make tracks!

After spending a day at Maungatautari Mountain slashing tracks through black berry I have got all enthused about getting an assess track through our gully system. I have bought a slasher through trademe. It is the heavy bladed type. I noted that these types of slashers can be used as an axe cutting through quite thick tree branches. The lighter blade variety can only be used on vines.

Day out with Conservation Volunteers - Maungatautari

I went with five others to cut tracks through black berry so sprayers could get in on the Western edge of the Mountain. Had a great day. It was my first trip to Maungatautari. For those that do not know, this mountain has had a pest proof fence built around it and all the pests removed.

http://www.maungatrust.org/. One of the interests of the day was clearing a service track around a patch of Astelia grandis. This is a flax like lily that grows 2 metre high and, unlike flax, is palletable to cattle. This has caused it to become quite rare in the Waikato although I understand it is quite easy to propogate from seed. I took several seed heads for this purpose. Photo attached.

Gully Restoration Project

Gully Restoration Project

I am interested in forming a group, to restore a local gully back to the original flora and fauna typical of Waikato gullies in pre European times. This project has the full support of Hamilton City Council.
This is an ideal “community based” project. It requires a variety of skills, and could be undertaken by people from all age groups from teenagers through to retirees. If you would like to be involved in setting up this group, please contact Rex Bushell on 854-0973 or reply on this blog.

The gully I have in mind is the upperMangaiti park gully that runs behind St James Drive, Rototuna, Hamilton, New Zealand.
There are two parts to this gully system:

(i) Narrow gully floors
Land form: *Colluvium, rhyolitic sands(volcanic), silt and gravel + organic, poorly drained, flat
(*Colluvium is sediment that has moved downhill to the bottom of the slope without the help of running water in streams. Gravity, in the form of soil creep, and sheet wash during rain storms are the predominant agents.)

Historic vegetation type: Kahikatea – pukatea – swamp marie forest
The poorly drained gully floor and their associated backswamps were dominated by Kahikatea, pukatea, swamp marie, cabbage tree and pokaka. Understorey and ground cover species include mapou, fuchsia, lancewood, pate, Coprosma rotundifolia, Cyathea cunninghamii, Astelia grandis, kiekie and supplejack. This type is represented in a small (1ha) remnant immediately east of Hammond Park, alongside the Waikato River, which is described in detail in de Lange (1996)

(ii) Terrace *scarps and gully sides
*scarps, a steep slope in land form.
Landform: Hinuera formation, rhyolitic (volcanic)sand and gravel, well drained, steep
Historic vegetation type: Totara – matai – kowia forest
The scarps and steep gully side slopes were covered with forest dominated by totara, matai and kowhai. Kanuka and kamahi were also present, and mahoe occurred in more poorly drained sites. The understorey included shrubs of mapou, mingimingi, and Rhabdothamnus solandri , and the ground was covered in a variety of ferns such as Blechnum chambersii, Doodia media, and Polystichum richardii. Slopes too steep for forest had herbaceous or shrubby vegetation including Machaerina sinclairii wharariki, rangiora, koromiko, and heketara.

Gullies (Hamilton, NZ)

(i) Narrow gully floors
Land form: *Colluvium, rhyolitic sands(volcanic), silt and gravel + organic, poorly drained, flat
(*Colluvium is sediment that has moved downhill to the bottom of the slope without the help of running water in streams. Gravity, in the form of soil creep, and sheet wash during rain storms are the predominant agents.)

Historic vegetation type: Kahikatea – pukatea – swamp marie forest
The poorly drained gully floor and their associated backswamps were dominated by Kahikatea, pukatea, swamp marie, cabbage tree and pokaka. Understorey and ground cover species include mapou, fuchsia, lancewood, pate, Coprosma rotundifolia, Cyathea cunninghamii, Astelia grandis, kiekie and supplejack. This type is represented in a small (1ha) remnant immediately east of Hammond Park, alongside the Waikato River, which is described in detail in de Lange (1996)
Target plants for the Kirikiriroa / St James Drive Gully restoration planting - gully floor