Young wildlife detectives check on progress

Jacob Lowry, age 10, a year six student at The Gardens School is examining species of fish found in the river.

Wildlife ambassadors from four Manukau schools continued to help regenerate their local environment by planting a further 1200 native trees across four key sites near Manukau’s main waterway, the Puhinui Stream – a vital next step in the Wai Care and Nestlé Community Environment Programme Into the Wild project.

Following on from the Into the Wild biodiversity study conducted in June, students from The Gardens School, Wiri School, Weymouth Intermediate, and James Cook High School also checked up on the wildlife across the sites to see the effects their tree planting has had over the last four years.

“Into the Wild aims to turn Manukau’s young people into wildlife experts to help guide future stages of restoration action,” says Wai Care co-ordinator, Andrew Jenks.

“The trees originally planted at the sites are now the same size as the kids who planted them.

“A simple insect survey also showed that insects, particularly spiders are flourishing. Spiders are carnivores and need plenty of unsuspecting herbivores to eat, so this is a good indication that a reasonably complex food web has been established.

“The follow up visit has allowed the students to see how their hard work and on-going efforts are paying off by helping to increase the size and sustainability of this local ‘urban forest’.”

The project is sponsored by Nestlé NZ, as part of their Community Environment Programme, which has contributed over $150,000 towards the Wai Care Into the Wild project over the past six years.

“We’ve been able to build plant propagation facilities at each school, establish 10,000 native plants in the main project area, and develop a batch of young wildlife detectives, all keen to use their skills to protect and improve their local environment,” says Mr Jenks.