Muck in at Onekawa Te Mawhai Regional Park

7 July 2014

Fresh air, great scenery and a chance to meet like-minded locals while caring for a special Bay of Plenty spot, are on offer from 10am until 12 noon next Sunday 13 July at Onekawa Te Mawhai Regional Park.

A planting day is being held at the Park which is located on the headland between Ōhiwa Harbour and Bryan’s Beach. The Park is approximately 20 minutes drive from Ōpōtiki or 30 minutes from Ōhope.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Park Coordinator Courtney Bell says all are welcome to come along and help out.

“Bring your favourite spade and gardening gloves and help give your newest regional park a makeover. You’ll be rewarded with a sausage sizzle and cuppa afterwards,” she said.

“The Park opened in 2010 and we work with Upokorehe hapū to manage it. It has a rich cultural history with some clearly visible archaeological features such as the Onekawa and Te Mawhai pā sites.”

“We’ve been making gradual improvements since the Park opened, including removing pines, repairing slips and upgrading the walking tracks, but there’s plenty more to do. The area we’ll be planting used to be covered in gorse, we’ve now cleared that and it’ll be great to see a native forest start to grow there instead,” Ms Bell said.

Car parking is available at the Ōhiwa Domain entrance or outside the Ōhiwa Holiday Park on Ōhiwa Harbour Road as well as the Bryan’s Road park entrance. Planters will need to walk 5-10 minutes up the hill from either car park, to meet at the planting site at the top of the Park.

For further details or directions contact Courtney Bell, Park Coordinator phone 0800 884 881 extension 8520 or email courtney.bell@boprc.govt.nz

ENDS

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