News
- The Maara Roa Loop - Guided Walk - 16 January 2010
- Glenview Storage & Workshop Door repair fund - has now reached $330 of $450 needed
- Last working day - 28 November 2009
- Porirua Harbour and Catchment Study
- Friends of Belmont Regional Park / Friends of Maara Roa guided walks - 21 November 2009
- Flax planting - 14 November 2009
Archive - News and Media Coverage
The Maara Roa Loop - Guided Walk - 16 January 2010
Unfortunately, this walk was rained out on this day. What an awful January we have had for weekend weather!
If you want to "see" what you could have seen on the walk, have a look at the photos in our Photo Gallery, taken on the walk in 2009.
Glenview Storage & Workshop Door repair fund - has now reached $330 of $450 needed
Glenview Storage and Workshop
It has been a great help to our Project that Glenview School has given us free use of their old boiler room to store so much gear - all our tools, stakes, hare protectors, and milk cartons are safe there - and there is work space as well.
But the big lift-up door (a garage door) that gives us entry has become damaged and needs a new frame.
Dorothy and the older women, the Friends who work there, have had a real job getting it open.
The cost to get a new frame fitted is $450, and so far the repair fund has reached $330.
Please can you give a little?
Will you help and make things easier for our volunteers by giving a little koha for a good cause?
And at the same time you weill be helping to repay Glenview School - a really magic little school for the environment (you should see their "Adopt-a-Spot" trees, now!) - thanking them for their generosity to us.
If you would like to donate towards this, so we can get the door fixed by the time school opens or soon after,
please send your gift either by cheque to
Friends of Maara Roa Treasurer
PO Box 53029
Porirua 5243
or phone
Jo, our Treasurer, at (04) 233.9651 to arrange an on-line donation, if that is easier for you.
Not far to go now, and we can get it done!
Last working day - 28 November 2009
A modest turnout of volunteers on our last working day of 2009, Saturday 28 November, rounded off our activities for the year.
Despite poor weather that day we were all pleased as we all looked back at the results of a good year's work.
All 6300 seedlings were planted in 2009, earlier plantings monitored, possum control steadily maintained - with excellent results (almost no possum sign found when monitored last May) - and the hard-working committee and leaders felt justly gratified.
The customary end-of-year Picnic became an indoor shared lunch at the Coordinator's home nearby, and we parted with hearfelt Season's Greetings all round.
Porirua Harbour and Catchment Study and Workshop - Oct/Nov 2009
Porirua Harbour - Polishing the Gem
Some of us were able to attend one or other of the final workshop meetings for this study, held in Linden and at Pataka, Porirua in late November, and organised by the three Councils: Wellington City Council, Porirua City Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council.
Our impression of these were that progress is being made and that we may see some action before long, as some ongoing structures are now in place for the three Local Authorities (Greater Wellington, Wellington City and Porirua City) to actually work together on the problems.
If some real leadership is offered by the Councils together, they will find good support from groups such as ours and from the public generally.
May year 2010 show us real progress, especially on correction of the erosion and pollution of our streams.
Friends of Belmont Regional Park / Friends of Maara Roa guided walks - 21 November 2009
Unfortunately conditions were too unpleasant on the day, so the walks were cancelled.
We did however get some nice articles in the Kapi-Mana News and Hutt News advertising this event.
[ Hutt News article, 17 November 2009 ]
[ Kapi-Mana News article, 10 November 2009 ]
Flax planting - 14 November 2009
This day we enjoyed learning about the care of harakeke (NZ flax) from Sarni Scott of Te Wananga o Aotearoa (Porirua Campus).
For those of you who do not know, Ngatitoa and other Maori needing harakeke for arts and crafts, have the right to harvest the flax in the Cannons Creek Lakes Reserve, and we often see evidence that they have been to gather fibres.
We learnt how to thin out old growth and keep the plants healthy, what types of harakeke are used for making various articles and how to collect the leaves without damage, and so on.
About 30 more flax plants were planted by our volunteers and two Wananga students along with Sarni.
For successful future caring of the plants, those sites chosen had to have easy access and no crowding.