RIver Park

We spent a bucolic morning in the company of the friendly steers in the park. We now have a shiny new gate and a sturdy little side fence. We also battened off more of the wire fence sections - just a couple to go now.

Big thanks to all who turned up to help with battening the fence on sunday. Excellent progress made - just a few more sections and we'll be cow-proof.

A big thank you to Pole Specs Silverdale for donating the timber for our new fencing. Much appreciated guys.

A big thank you to Local Board representative Paul Manton and team who came out with a tractor and drove the strainers and posts for our new dividing fence . This will allow us to segregate the stock into the more suitable pastural areas of the park while we start or weed control and regeneration projects. Next step is to complete the fence with wiring, battens and gate hardware. Superb work, thanks Paul

We'll be taking photos from marked points on the regenerating areas at regular intervals to show our progress

As soon as our new fence is in place to prevent access by stock, we can start preparing for planting. The first job is an initial spray to tackle kykuyu growth in the planting areas. A second spray just before planting in will ensure the shrubs can get a foothold before the invasive grass smothers them again

Over then next few years we hope to regenerate the bush in the park. We'll be looking for volunteers to help planting a weeding programs, and ,where possible allowing natural regrowth to occur. We've divided the park into different areas to stage our approach.

A long standing plan after we completed the riverside track was to continue it on back up to the ridge to join the Te Aroroa track, This effectivively completes a perimeter loop around the park making it a decent length trail with a variety of interesting points along the way, returning the Puhoi. Our current rough plan is to push a low gradient track, zig-zagging to keep the going easy up the steep slope. Current the vegetation is very thick with kikuyu and other weeds - th

One of our first projects will be to build a new fence in the park. This will divide off the flat land which, which will continue to be used for grazing, from the regenerating area of wetland and bush.