Plant Native Trees - Help Restore Native Bush
From the beautiful book ‘Aroha’s Way’ by Rebekah Lipp and Craig Phillips
Kids Greening Taupo was established to support Greening Taupo with their restoration efforts. We want to restore our native bush to bring back our native birds, bugs, bats, and lizards. Without corridors of native bush, our native birds can’t reestablish their populations and spread out from sanctuary areas. Check out your local volunteer groups and see if they have a planting day coming up that you could help with. Plant native trees and plants in your backyard, and set traps for the introduced predators.
Why plant native trees?
You may have had a swan plant in your class so that you could have monarch butterflies. You know that you need milkweed species to have these beautiful butterflies, as they will only lay eggs on those plants. The caterpillars only eat those plants, as they are the host plant for the monarch butterflies. Did you realise that most of our native plants are host to native species too? Many of them have moth or butterfly caterpillars, weevils, or beetles that they are the only host plant for. Check out the photos of the incredible cabbage tree moth that only lives in tī kōuka (cabbage trees) and camouflages so perfectly with the dead leaves under the tree. Have you ever watched a tūī drinking from a harakeke flower? You can see how its beak is just the right shape to drink the nectar and how well it pollinates the flowers. Our native birds, bugs, lizards, and bats evolved with our native plants and they need each other. Planting trees from other countries will not support our native species in the same way. In some cases these introduced plant species can become invasive, as they don’t have the animals here that eat them in their country of origin, so there is nothing to keep the balance, they quickly spread and out compete native species. If you want to know more about these connections between native plants and animals, we highly recommend Andrew Crowe’s books, ‘Which Native Tree?’ ‘Which Native Forest Plant?’ and ‘Which Native Fern?’. We love these books and carry them with us when exploring the forest. Also check out our Plant and Bug Hunt.
Of course, there are many other reasons to plant native trees. We love this activity from Trees That Count. It's a way to great to start discussions about why we plant native trees. Look at the picture and see how many reasons you can spot to plant native trees. Click on it to go to the Trees that Count website and to scroll down to read the 20 reasons for planting native trees shown in the picture. What a fantastic resource!
Picture from Trees That Count https://www.treesthatcount.co.nz/why-native-trees
Now, get planting!
If you want to plan a school restoration planting, check out this resource from Trees that Count, ‘Planting at your School’.
If you would like to learn how to plant a tree the way Kids Greening Taupō do, check out ‘Plant like a Ninja.’
You can find an awesome Gully Restoration Guide HERE from the Hamilton City Council. It has great step by step information for anyone planning a gully restoration.
Find more detailed information and videos about restoration planting and maintenance HERE from Trees that Count.
Look at this chart (Restoration through the Seasons) to see what activity you could do today that would be appropriate for the season. Help us restore the native bush and bring back the birds!
Original source: https://www.doc.govt.nz/get-involved/conservation-education/resources/restoration-through-the-seasons/
Original source: https://www.doc.govt.nz/get-involved/conservation-education/resources/restoration-through-the-seasons/