Tree planting groups working to regenerate native bush

The winter tree planting season is still with us and environmentally minded volunteers around the Coromandel are digging deep to regenerate areas of native bush. Two planting sessions are taking place this weekend - in Opito Bay and Cooks Beach.

On Saturday 20 August, the Opito Bay Environment Group is planting 100 kowhai, kahikatea, puriri and flax donated by our Council over a 100m strip along Stewart Stream, next to Matapaua Bay Road.

They are meeting at the "green dump" on Matapaua Bay Rd on Saturday at 10am if you'd like to join them. Bring a spade, gloves, sturdy shoes or boots, a raincoat and warm clothing, and a snack. The group will be working until about 1pm.

The group has been at it for the last 15 years, planting about 20,000 native trees on 15 hectares of privately owned, retired farmland on the hills above the bay.

"We heard tui beside our house for the first time," says Chris Severne, an Opito Bay property owner and one of the members of the environment group. "The work we're doing to restore native bush to the area is all about enhancing the beauty of our bay."

With funding from Waikato Regional Council, the group has been conducting pest and weed control in the area and they have also been planting the beach dunes.

The group are not only keen tree planters, they also have green thumbs: They have propagated from local seeds about 80 percent of the trees they have planted over the years. Many of the rest have been purchased with money the members have donated.

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