Enviroschools West Coast invited the West Coast Penguin Trust to join and present to a recent community partnerships hui for teachers.
The hui focussed on building strong community collaborations and partnerships. It was held at Kaniere School and nearly 30 teachers from across Grey and Westland districts attended along with our Manager, Inger Perkins, and representatives from Kai Puku Food Hub, Kiwi Conservation Club, the Paparoa Wildlife Trust, Conservation Volunteers NZ, the Department of Conservation, West Coast Regional Council, and Grey District Council.
Feedback included: “This has been very valuable for our centre moving forward and inspiring us. Making connections has been great.”
Organiser and Enviroschools facilitator, Laura Neale said: “It was exciting to see everyone getting to know each other. From little things big things grow – we look forward to these conversations blossoming into rich learning opportunities for tamariki and collaborations that contribute to a more understanding, connected, and sustainable community.”
Bringing community groups to schools and connecting them in this way was an excellent initiative. The Trust has many connections to schools and to others involved in conservation across the region and it was a wonderful opportunity to connect with them and meet new teachers and new organisations with shared values including the new waste minimisation officer at Grey District Council and Kai Puku Food Hub, preventing usable food ending in landfill and instead sharing it where it is needed.
While materials were chosen that would stand up to the harsh coastal conditions, those same coastal conditions are conducive to plant growth! Occasional checks of the fences have been carried out by volunteers and rangers so that any maintenance needs can be identified and remedied. The never-ending need for maintenance is managing the vegetation that can grow through the fence, for example gorse, blackberry and hydrangea, pushing it to breaking point in places, or flop over causing damage from the weight of rank grass, rushes and weeds such as montbretia.
Volunteers recently spent a few hours tidying up the main fence along Woodpecker Bay north of Punakaiki so a big shout out to them - thank you Fiona, Jony, Reef, Katrina, Mandy, Marty, Teresa and Deb! Flax had been pressing down on the fence, but now the fence has been freed up by these wonderful volunteers - and they picked up a fair bit of rubbish too.
Volunteer Natassja Savidge has offered to check and help maintain the Hokitika penguin protection fence and joined Ranger Lucy Waller and Manager Inger Perkins in May to inspect the length of the fence. Some minor issues were found but the main finding was the extent of the vegetation growth that was damaging the fence in places. Big thanks to Natassja!
