Pourewa Restoration Group

 Our new  volunteers are assuming ownership of the Facebook page and the group's web site. This is a great new development.

Turfa Chowdhury will be updating the Facebook site "Pourewa Restoration Group" and Zara and Dillon will be involved with this web site. Thanks everyone.

Our hardworking volunteer member, Derek the engineer, fixed and sold for us on Trademe, the rideon mower that has  been in the tool area for ever. Derek has raised almost $400.00 for the group. Hopefully we will buy a good weed eater for his use.

As others are assuming management of communication for the group this Diary will no longer be needed. So will will stop today, the 28th October 2018.

Wow how the weeks have flown. We have two new volunteers, Zara and Dillon. They are both University students and it is so great to have them join our group. Welcome to you both.

We now have Martin, Derek, Peter, Zara, Dillon and Pat as a Sunday group. Turfa will join us as she can. Sel also comes to the valley when he can. He mainly works on Asparagus vine.

In May we were tackling Madiera Vine and Moth Plant. Well we are still doing the same thing as the weather has warmed and the vines are growing at a rate of knots. This morning the main group (how great to be able to say that) is continuing the onslaught we made last week on both vines on the slopes of Selwyn Park at the end of the football field.

Today and in previous weeks Derek is weilding his chainsaw on Sycamores that have fallen. He does such  a great job cutting all the trees that fall in the storms. If we had to pay for it would be impossible. Derek also uses his weed eater on the grassy track areas making it look very respectable and accessible.

Last week  and the previous week we tackled the bank area by the side of the football field back from the large palms. We worked up from the base of the slope clearing the area of Tradescantia, Ivy, and Moth Plant. In part we were looking for Pat's best cutter, unfortunately it was not found but a big area was cleared. Martin, Zara and Dillon went to the mini slope seeking out Madiera and Moth Plant vines before they joined us and we tackled the Selwyn Park area for the same vines.We rescued a Puriri,  about 6 years old,  just in time. The Puriri do so well in this valley and we try to make sure they are not strangled to death.

We noted there had been spraying at the edges of the football field fence. Spray drift has killed both weeds and plants in the bush area.

Yesterday Martin was able to give Zara and Dillon a history of our project and show them the before and after photos we have. It is always makes a project more significant when one has an idea of the work, philosophy and politics that have gone into the project. Martin would have spoken about Roy Clements and the tremendous work he did in the whole valley.

Today Pat chose to update the Diary (did not want rain down the neck) and the group went to the Madiera / Moth Plant site to continue the great work started last week.

We had a good lesson the week before last. We went to attend to a clump of Madiera vine just at the start of the lower track parallel with the lower sports ground.

A former group had pulled and bagged 6 or 7 black sacks of the vine. They were then left in the spot. Over time they themselves became overgrown. We found the madiera vine had sprouted inside the bags and was forcing its way out of the plastic. Any small tear in the a bag had a series of tendrils emerging. Madiera was fighting back. We fetched a large heavy weed bag and emptied all the black bags into this bag. Hopefully this will stop the Madiera growing and kill it off inside the large bag.

Further up the same slope the covering was thick Tradescantia. Peter and Pat had a go at this area last week. What a feat. We freed Lacebark and Puriri from the onslaught of the Convolvulous and Maderia vines. As well as that we piucked out small Madiera vines to destroy them before they start climbing.

Peter and Pat could not get down to the tool space as the area has been bulldozed to insert a shipping container to hold sports gear. The area has turned into a quagmire and is too slippery to attempt at the moment.

Martin has been away recently, he has to devote part of his time to trapping and planning.  We missed Derek last week. Derek has been doing a sterling job on the fallen trees which were blown down in the recent storm. Hopefully we will all be there tomorrow.

Peter joined us in March. He is a retired school teacher and enjoys tackling the hideous Convolvulous we are fighting at the moment. We welcome Peter's help.

Derek, a volunteer for over two years,  is an engineer and he has managed to start the drive on mower under the Stadium. We may be able to sell it to raise funds for necessary supplies.  Great going Derek.

Most of March has been goiing from site to site clearing trees of Convolvulous and Madiera weed. It is so smothering the young trees are dying if they are not freed. Madiera weed has nodules that fall off easily so we have to bag it as we pull otherwise we are just broadcasting the seeds and not being much help at all. It was all over the Flame trees, Manuka and Puriri. Sel trimmed the Flame tree back so the Puriri would have a better chance.

We have not seen some of our lady volunteers for a little while. I guess the business of clearing Convolvulous is a bit tedious and boring.

Today we are having a meeting of all the workers in the Purewa Valley. Martin has called the meeting to make sure we have a forward looking plan for the year ahead. Hopefully all the people who work in the Valley under whatever participant banner will attend. I think the trapping persons are also coming.

First everyone will walk around the areas they work in describing what their work covers and what they have achieved in this area over the last year. Then a meeting will be held behind the  ASB Stadium for opinions on an operational 2018 plan.

During February volunteers have had various times when they have not been able to participate, Pat fell down a bank and had 3 sessions with the chiropracter, others had family and work priorities to attend to. Nevertheless work was done and most of it was freeing vegetation from the strangulation of Convovulous and Bindweed.

Derek has done a lot of work in his dedicated area with Pat and Martin helping in the same area with the Convolvulous covering  small plants and ferns. Much regeneration with Kawakawa has taken part in this area. Work has been done on the mini slope and it has been mainly the same, removal of Convolvulous, Gigi took part in this clearance.  The area at the top of the pathway from the Stadium was also cleared of creeper coverage.The power of Convolvulous to destroy plants is frightening. In the last area Roy constructed with the help of refugees, the vines had bent the tip of one of the Kauri planted in that area. After freeing the tree it was still bent. Not sure if it will recover.

Incredibly hot morning these weeks.

Derek is putting further work into his section overgrown with mainly honeysuckle and gorse. Martin and I and last week Thomas,  Gigi, Martin and I tackled the remnants of what was called the Peace Garden.Since this was started it has not been able to be attended and everything is covered in bindweed and convolvulus.

We found two new Kauri that are doing pretty well. Thankfully neither of the newly uncovered trees had had the tips weighed over and permanently bent.

We found an outline of planning in the area, someone had laid punga logs to shape the space. I nearly sprained my ankle as they were covered and/or grown over. I was able to clear some of them to perhaps perceive the original plan.

A large Macrocarpa near the school playing field had fallen down and the path had been blocked. Martin had to trim branches fin order for us to be able to proceed.

Well what an interval between posts. Sorry about that.

Many new things happening. Thomas and Gigi have joined us as a volunteers. It is so good to have extra people to tackle the huge proliferation of bindweed and other creepers encroaching on the area. The longed for rain and the heat has made the growth of climbers a danger to the smaller plants and even to established growth..

Derek, Martin and Pat are still weeding away. Derek has been with us for over 2 years now. What a difference he has made. He has adopted his own area which was previously covered with Honeysuckle.

As November in Auckland had no rain at all we were looking at the prospect of dying plantings. Martin and his employers, Plant and Food had made a video of Kenyan farmers enhancing their Avocado trees to increase yeild. They placed a 20ltr bottle beside each tree with a pin prick in it to provide a slow, steady, constant supply of water to each tree. We decided to follow this example and called several companies to seek out free bottles.

Two companies were absolute stars and gave us free bottles. One company provided 800ltr barrels that had had shampoo in them. This was the Auckland Drum Company   The other company, Bottles Ltd in East Tamaki, provided over 50 10ltr bottles that were rejects. We pin pricked each bottle, filled it with water and placed it next to each plant we were trying to save. The Hebes are the worst affected in this type of situation. The larger containers act as way stations as no water reaches the midvalley onwards.

Having five people to pull and cut is a huge advantage and provides the capacity for us to watch and support more areas. In this way those areas do not fall off the radar and we get to them before plantings  are killed by the vines. In the area we cleared last week one quite large tea-tree had died from vine infestation.

If you would like to join us come along to the rear carpark at Selwyn College each Sunday at 8.30am, it would be great to see you. We do two hours work - no more.

Derek was not with us this week. Martin and Pat spent the time doing mega weeding. The weeds are rampant but the soil is still soft so it is not too difficult. The top of the mini slope and the bottom of Derek's slope were the focus of this energy,

In previous weeks we have continued to free up the vegetation from another planted area further down the valley where the Kauri was permanently bent.

Total joy. We saw two small dragonflies. I have not seen one in Auckland for years. Our stream must be good for them and the valley canopy is certainy increasing.

Derek has returned and has been very energetic on his return to working in the valley.  Unfortunately Stephanie has had to leave us for a couple of months as she has personal issues to solve.

The amount of water in the valley makes it pretty dangerous navigating around the vsrious weeding areas needing attention. Last week was just too wet.The previous week saw Pat slipping over a couple of times.

However that was the week we located an area that had been planted and left. It had a very sprightly Kauri that had been so smothered by creeper in the summer/autumn that the growing tip had bent right over. Several Woolly Nightshade inspired the guys to set about with vigour and demolished the lot. Water logged conditions had killed a couple of Whau and a number of Five Finger.  We will keep an eye on this area and incorporate it into our schedule as it is stupid to let trees like Kauri be killed off by neglect.

The weeds are shooting up and are a real challenge. So a recent visit from CVNZ was very welcome. Their ongoing help is vital to the management of the valley. This visit they attacked emerging spring creeper near the felled Macrocarpa and the help was so appreciated. We are only 3 persons and we cannot get to all the areas we would like to tackle. See CVNZ here.

Sustainable Coastlines at Drury are having a olanting day and looking for volunteers. See them here. Are you able to help them create a bush strip?

The renewed trapping cycle has caught a possum and several rats and mice. Great work guys.

Derek will be back with us very soon. His valley site offers him a real challenge after the torrential rain we have had. We have transfered valley seedlings to this area and although it is a water run off site we may have made enough channels for the seedlings to grow and not drown. They are Lacebark from the edge of the gravel path below the bank.

Many Lacebark seedlings from Pat's place were also big enough to bring back for the season. Coprosma has also been transplanted. Last weekend we put the rest on the far side of the Mini slope. Very hard to keep ones balance as the area is so wet it is hard to stand. All the seedlings came from the Valley floor.

A lot of weeding has been done as this is the time it is easiest. The soil is so water logged the grasses come out easily. Even the Marshmallow creeper comes out roots and all.

A lot of finches and Tui around, Fantails are more common as we work. The trapping has started again and the trappers report less animals are turning up in the traps. The birdsong at the bottom of the valley has increaed in volume quite markedly. So it seems the trappers have made a tremendous difference to the bird population of the valley.

A review walk around shows that plantings in the upper areas near the fenced field have made great growth spurts. We arelooking for Whau to increase the canopy areas and cut down on the weed growth. We have found a huge variation in the growth rates of Whau in various areas of the valley. Can only put it down to soil type.

Today we welcomed Stephanie and Carolyn who are considering joining the Sunday weeding group.

Having more volunteers opens up more opportunities to restore this bush so thank you very much for your support!

It is exciting to announce that we are now officially an Incorporated Society. We have been talking about it for years.

We are missing Derek, but he is having a great time on his trip.

Scattered some Karaka seeds on the mini slop and hope for the best. The growth in that area has been pretty good. The Whau is really spreading. Such a reward to see it actually happening.

The weather has been a bit of a challenge as we had the spinoff from the two cyclones and the amount of water that must have rushed down the valley was intense. This makes the water meadow area near the stream nearly impossibe to navigate. However Martin hopped over the stream, Pat fell in,  to rescue some fairly new plantings from smothering in morning glory vines.

Then we found a HUGE moth plant up the top by the soccer field that was smothering one of the trees by the old Macrocarpa. We pulled seed pods that have filled 5 large bags. Will have to finish it next week as it rained today and Martin was rostered on for trapping.

Sel has been helping us as he can and we are so grateful for his help.

Derek has left us for six months, he and his wife are having an extended O/E and his energy will be missed. It is so astounding what a differnce one more pair of arms makes to the ongoing work we do,

Our group was directed to move all the drying branches under the stadium stairs, so Sel and Roy came along last week and we all cleaned up the area. Contributing to the college as volunteer grounds people. This waste came from the tree that fell over the bank last year which we cleaned up for the college at no cost. We were instructed to stack the sawn up wood neatly by the rubbish bins so those who wanted the wood for free could take it. Shame they could not come and help with the cutting and stacking.

There is a constant water overflow in that area and Sel dug channels to take the water down the bank. Weeds were raked and put into weed bags. Next week when the area has dried out we will be spreading mulch over the whole space to provide a uniform appearance.