If you plant things the right way they can last the best part of 1000 years, says Hamilton City Council community planting coordinator Gerard Kelly.
A group of about 40 St Paul’s Collegiate year-9 students continued the school’s on-going commitment to gully restoration in Donny Park last week.
Kelly said the students would plant about 1600 seedlings from the city council’s nursery, including purei or carex sedges, kahikatea trees, flaxes and cabbage trees.
The planting would be done along the stream banks and in the wetland at the bottom of the gully as a means of holding the banks, improving water quality and providing food sources for native birds.
The St Paul’s students have been working on the Gully Restoration Programme at Donny Park since the start of the year with groups helping tidy up the gully on a regular basis. They will continue on with the restoration until the end of the year.
School spokeswoman Karen Pickering said Donny Park had been chosen as a community service project for the boys because it is part of the school’s neighbourhood and because of its environmental significance.
‘‘Restoring the gully is a longterm process that will take many years to achieve, something that we think our students should be a part of,’’ she said.
