Success breeds success

There has been a lot going on in Mangaiti Gully of late. The new track from Keswick up to Gordonton Road, the Jobs for Nature team working restoring the gully from Keswick to Hukanui Road and the opening up and upgrading of the tracks through the Volunteers area Keswick to Sexton Road / Haswell place. This has all attracted a lot of attention. While it is flattering to get this attention, it does take time and it distracts from getting on with our core business. There was a major feature in the Saturdays paper by a local Waikato Times journalist, Richard Walker, on Hamilton Gullies. Mangaiti was referenced a number of times in this article. There was a very successful visit by Kiri Allan during her time as Conservation Minister. This was organised by our regional DOC office and involved a number of other invited guests including our mayor, Paula Southgate and media. TV1 visited Mangaiti to get sound bites and visuals for a documentary they are working on. After twelve years of our Trust quietly working away restoring the gully to suddenly get all this activity and attention tends to be a bit overwhelming, but let’s not knock it. Mangaiti is on the cusp of being transformed into a major public asset for the city and for an upgrade of the ecological habitat for our indigenous biodiversity. Photo1: Kiri Allan visit Photo2: TV1 recording sound and visual bites