On Sunday March 14 locals from Auckland's Meola and Motions Creeks area will participate in the first large scale community creek cleanup 'Motion in the Ocean'.

Motion in the Ocean is hosted by Western Springs College (WSC) students, and will be a fun, free, family event. Those taking part will be traveling the path less traveled by the public, and, will take a look into some of the more hidden parts of both creeks including that which runs through the Zoo and MOTAT.

Environmental Pride: The Organisers of Motion in the Ocean are, pictured from left in the back row, Molly Tait-Hyland, Liam O'Dwyer, Sophie Blazey, Wanakia Heather-Kingi, and, in the front, is Phoebe Balle. They say it is important to remind people of how important fresh water streams are for our environment.

People taking part will meet at 10 am in the WSC car park. Then they will take a free tram ride to Western Springs. From there, the group will will met by, and received talks from, various organisations, including: MOTAT on the history of the Pumphouse; Justine Coup, a freshwater ecologist from Waicare; Lynn Claridge from the Zoo on its use of the creek including raising eels to feed to the animals; and MP David Clendon, an advocate of sustainability.

At the end of the day, the Motion in the Ocean group will be performing a waste audit and having a shared lunch.

The 2010 Make A Difference Marine camp, run by the Auckland Regional Council, sparked the idea and was the inspiration behind a simple school creek clean up evolving into the community event that it is.

Wanakia Heather-Kingi, one of the Environmental leaders at WSC remembers, as a little girl, being upset by the rubbish in the stream. Her playcentre backed onto Meola creek.

Phoebe Balle, another organiser shares her experience: “We are gifted with Meola and Motions creeks. Motions Creek is home to a rare, nationally endangered moss, Fissidens berteroi, and both creeks provide a habitat for eels, pukeko, ducks, grey warbler, tui, heron and spur wing plover. After heavy rains however, excrement, heavy metal and petro-chemical pollutants join the biodiversity.

“Walking the course of the stream I also noticed tires, car doors, a computer monitor and a washing machine. In retrospect, I was shocked to learn that Western Springs, the source of Motions Creek originally supplied the areas with drinking water,” Phoebe Balle says.

Madeleine Trusewich, who first conceived the idea of a communal Motion in the Ocean, sums up what we wish to achieve: “We want to lift people’s ideas about fresh water conservation and its effect on sustainability in the marine environment.”

There has been a massive response from various groups and organisations and organisers of this event believe it is a reflection of the potential the local community sees in these two creeks.

Phoebe Balle says: “It is our hope that Motion in the Ocean will become an annual event, and that public perception of these creeks is changed from that of a draining system and dumping site into a biological habitat and geographical jewel.”

What: Motion in the Ocean clean-up of Meola and Motions Creek
Where: Meet at Western Springs College carpark
When: 10am Sunday March 14
Remember: Sunblock, hat, drinking water, energy snacks.

If you are interested in taking part, contact motion.ocean (at) hotmail.com or txt: 021 1528294.

Click here to download the flyer for this event.

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