That’s a wrap on St. Theresa's School's Whitebait Connection programme for 2024! These awesome tamariki have had the opportunity to connect and explore te taiao whilst learning some invaluable lessons on our very special freshwater species and their habitats!
The tamariki got straight to it, testing the health of the water at Taupō Stream and investigating the friendly fish and bug life in their local awa. The students were able to put to practice what they had learnt in the classroom, testing the water clarity, temperature, conductivity and flow rate of the water. The students also became stream detectives checking out the macroinvertebrate life and were lucky to spot our native toitoi (common bully) and so many freshwater shrimp it was hard to count!
Now that the students had checked out what was at the bottom of the catchment in Taupō Stream in Plimmerton Domain, it was time to head up into the hills of Battle Hill Farm Forest Park to explore the Horokiri Stream and check out what life was hiding away up there. Creating opportunities for tamariki to understand the importance of our freshwater ecosystems and the connection of the waterways from the mountain to the sea, is vital in empowering our younger generations to care for te taiao.
To add to their environmental endeavors, the students worked with Natalie at Porirua City Council to plant 300 grasses and trees along the shared pathway along Papakowhai Reserve. The wetland behind their planting site will get a helping hand from having these plants filter runoff, create habitat, and improve bank stability.
The planting didn’t stop there - some of the St Theresa’s students and their adult helpers from our field trips attended Plimmerton Rotary and Porirua City Council's Plimmerton Domain planting along Taupō stream during the weekend with one of our MTSW crew. 440 wetland trees and plants were added to the ever increasing riparian plantings over the two day sessions.
The following weekend, we heard that a Mātātā/Fern Bird was seen flying near the planting site - this is such great news and a marvelous display of habitat creation allowing our endemic locals to return home.
We cherish the opportunity to partner with schools like St. Theresa’s that are dedicated to fostering a deep connection with te taiao. If you’re keen to get stuck into some planting to provide more habitats for our native manu to return to one day, come along to the next public planting session on 10th August - meet near the carpark on the southern side of Plimmerton Domain at 9am - all tools will be provided and there will be a BBQ at the end to celebrate a good mornings work!
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