Mackenzie Wins Bronze At Ellerslie

Mackenzie Wins Bronze At Ellerslie

A witty Forest and Bird display celebrating the Mackenzie Basin's diverse and special tussock and kettlehole plants, the butterflies and other invertebrates, and highlighting the potential effects of cubicle cow farming won a bronze award from Ellerslie judges.

The display includes a canvas backgound of the Mackenzie, a sequence of the dryland Basin leading up to Aoraki/MtCook.

Three cowhide covered cubes and a circle of lush pasture precariously perched on a thin soil layer dependent on an irrigation pipe, refer to the threat of dairy farming to the Mackenzie's plants, landscapes and waterways.

"Forest and Bird celebrates our native plants and wildlife. Boulder and copper butterflies hover above a veil of tussock over a diverse carpet of plants. Here we are using plants and art in a different way to help show what's at stake in the Mackenzie.” Forest and Bird’s South Canterbury branch member, Ines Stager said.

"Being able to see twelve different native plants in an area the size of an icecream container gives people an idea of the range of plants at risk from conversion to irrigated pasture. "

"People are making the connection between what's there now and what we'll lose with intensive dairy farming.”

ENDS

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