It’s been such an incredible few months and we wanted to share the progress with you. We are pretty sure we did some of the work in record breaking times; 41,000 carex secta plants planted in just nine days.
There are lots of shout outs in this newsletter because Thomsons Project really is, at heart, a community-led endeavour. On that note, thanks to Kate Wilson who donated a tray of carex secta seedlings to our project, which we potted in winter ready for planting next autumn.
The best way to showcase the vast amount of work is by photos – so enjoy this newsletter!
Planting at Gillespie wetland site gets underway in August
On 24 August, a community planting day at the Gillespie wetland site, on a tributary of the Manuherekia River, helped get 500 natives in the ground. What a day! The whole of Omakau School (60 children), with another 35-adults from the school and community turned up to help. The planting day with wetland assessment was arranged by Anna and Ben Gillespie, local farmers, and is in its fourth year.
The planting was supported by the Otago Catchment Communities through the Manuherikia Catchment Group and by Thomsons Catchment Project. A range of people from across the community also joined the planting fun, including Nicola McGrouther (Thomsons Project), Jo Wakelin (Koinga Consulting), Nicole Foote (NZ Landcare Trust), Dean Sinnamon (B+LNZ), Simon Parks and Becky Clements (Otago Regional Council), Anna Robinson (OCC), Lucy Francke (Enviro schools), and staff from CMLaw in Alexandra and Cromwell.
The Gillespie Farm wetland
The planting team
Anna Gillespie, local farmer and co-owner of Two Farmers Farming said, “‘what a fantastic day and it was great to have so much community support. We started these planting says in 2019 and we got the school involved to help the kids learn how and what to plant – and the kids love it”.
Kirsten Knights, CM Law, said “we’ve brought our crew out from Alexandra and Cromwell because we love supporting local and helping the kids out. Obviously, this is a great way to support the water in our region too.”
Nicole Foote, South Island team leader Landcare Trust NZ said, “it’s awesome to get out with the kids, get hands on with the plants and mix with a large group of supporters. Anna and Ben have done an amazing job and there are lots of happy tired kids from this fun day out”.
Simon Park, ORC catchment advice team said, “the team are doing a great job of riparian planting and establishing a wetland to create a biodiversity hotspot on this productive farm. It’s great to see collaboration between agencies, the school, the Council, catchment group and expert ecologists to tell us where to put the different species. It’s a great learning curve for the young kids for hands on appreciation of creating a wetland”.
When asked what they enjoyed about the planting day, Sophie, aged 12, said, “I really enjoyed digging out the holes and doing something good for the environment. Jesse, aged 10, enjoyed pulling out the weeds, which he found hard on hands, yet felt good. Charlotte, aged 11, said “it’s quite fun getting muddy, and your hands dirty. We enjoyed running across the bogs and getting water in our gumboots and having to help each other not get wet”.
You can find out about future community planting days by checking out the Thomsons Project website or signing up to the newsletter.
Getting the right advice from the right people in September
Chris Tanner from NIWA is a constructed wetland expert who designed our wetland. He visited the on 13 September to give us timely advice before the planting that took place in October – more on that below. We made the most of him being here by also getting him to give us a workshop, hosted by Otago Catchment Community (OCC) and Thomsons Project, about constructed wetlands. Matt Bell from ORC also contributed some useful information on the rules around wetlands. You can find his presentation here.
Chris Tanner (central) looking at some May planted Carex secta with Haines Battrick (TCP) left,
and Jo Wakelin Koinga consulting (right).
Chris told us that it’s amazing to see the plans on paper turn into reality on the ground. “It’s really impressive when you see the real thing with its sweeping curves carved into the landscape. Equally remarkable is the way the community has got behind the project and are rightfully proud of what is being created. The construction team have made a beautiful job under very difficult wet conditions – way outside what you’d normally expect. I can’t wait to see the rather raw post-construction site gradually green up – The next stage of planting and nurturing the plants through their first few growth seasons is really critical.” Thanks Chris!
We planted the wetland in October
We planted 41,000 carex secta in the wet base of the wetland in just nine days. Thank you to the two amazing planting teams from Habitat Restorations Aotearoa and Matukukiki Natives.
These plants will now bed in and grow beautifully and begin to filter nutrients and sediment before the water enters the main stem of Thomsons Creek. It’ll be three years until they’re fully grown and the wetland fully established.
Needless to say, it wasn’t just a case of throwing plants in the ground. They had to be carefully positioned, and the wetland divided into zones. We even shifted water and puddles.
The logistics were immense when you consider the accommodation, food, plant deliveries, collection of pots that needed to be organised. We couldn’t have done it without the help and support of the wider community. If you follow us on Facebook, you’ll have seen my shout-outs.
Special mention to the Matakanui Combined Rugby Club who lugged plants into the wetland in advance of the planters! And Matt O'Malley who answered a last-minute call to help! Thank you to Blue Mountain nurseries, Matukituki nurseries, and Blueskin Nursery for the plants and Blue Mountain for the irrigation system to S&B Civil who shifted pumps around and provided digger help when ever needed! To Roger Williams (water expert and pump guru) and the Stratford Family who prepared the accommodation and helped shift plants.
To Pete and Robyn McLeod who leant us trailers and provided us all the space we needed to undertake the planting. To Haines Battrick for the amazing barbecues, willow removal, plant and pump shifting and general morale support. To Cody West from S&B Civil who shifted pumps for us to keep water out of the planted areas and just helped wherever needed. To NIWA Lauder and Omakau Camping ground for their support and help. As you can see – truly a community effort!
Then there are some further finishing touches needed and thanks to Cody West from S&B Civil for adding rocks to sediment traps at the start of the wetland in three locations to protect the wetland entrances and removing the remaining dead willows near the exit weir. We also landscaped more of the earth that was excavated back in May/June.
Evening wetland workshop walk to wetland.
What’s next: the wetland
We’ll monitor moisture levels over the summer, undertake weed control and aim to plant the islands within the wetland late autumn. There are now some low hills appearing, so we’ll be back to do more landscaping and we need to tidy up the finished riparian margins.
We removed the crack willows from a section of Thomsons creek near the wetland to provide a better habitat for fish and invertebrates. This was done with great care and skill by East Coast Excavations. We will be replanting with natives come autumn. A big thanks to Mark Edgar the Manager of Whitestone contracting who donated his time to spray the weeds.
We’re also putting the finishing touches to a new factsheet on wetlands, which will be available on our website soon. Don’t forget our Galaxiid fish barrier factsheet and general Thomsons Project factsheet too.
Finding out about what’s coming up
We have a new website – thanks to Manuherekia Catchment Group, who have recently updated their site. You can find us on under Catchment Groups and Projects.
We are also on Facebook – and a huge thank you to all the amazing support, comments, likes and engagement on our Facebook page. If you ever want to know more just let me know and we can do a post.
Have a wonderful summer and Christmas from the Thomsons Project Team.
