Supreme Winner TrustPower Waipa Community Awards 2011
Spring Newsletter and Annual Report
AGM 15TH NOVEMBER AT 10:30AM
at the Thornton Road nursery
We currently have about 90 members and under the eagle eye of Greg Liddy we are financially sound. The winter months have been a busy time for the Tuesday group who have met regularly each week. Under new leadership a cracking pace has been set for this year, our 20th. The themes of COMPLETION, PLANNING and PLANTING have been to the fore in our weekly work. In April, our full nursery at Thornton Rd was an absolute picture at the beginning of our planting season. We have been busy planting around town for the last 5 months, often twice weekly, and now our nursery is in desperate need of of a summer of plant regeneration as close to 7000 plants have made it into the ground so far this year. Our aim this winter was to complete as many of the projects that have been going on for a few years as we could. Our Tuesday group reaches 14+ on our best days and weekly totals of 300+ plants left the nursery on the back of our distinctive new truck and ended up safely planted somewhere around town. Our morning planting record now stands at 515. More members are welcome. There are lots of laughs and good company.
I wish to place on record the huge amount of time our hard core volunteers spend on CTT work. I am privileged to be able to lead such passionate people. Thank you for your friendship and time, which make being a member of CTT such a positive and worthwhile experience.
NURSERY WORK during this winter has been concentrated on a few very wet days. There has been spraying, seeding, cutting propagation, weeding and potting on, and we now have a shade house full of very small plants that is an impressive example of what volunteers can do. Many of our members are champion propagators or seed collectors and as a result we have many trays of cuttings and seedlings thriving in the shade house. They will be repotted regularly in late spring and early summer for planting in 2012.
PLANNING. Much discussion has taken place over coffee after the winter planting sessions about the plant needs for 2012 projects. This has meant the purchase of banksias and rhododendrons for Lake Te Ko Utu, and hebes, grasses and flax for Lola Silcock Park, along with kanuka, tarata and kohuhu in root trainers from Taupo Nurseries. Further planning for 2012 and beyond is now under way.
FUNDING FOR PLANNED PROJECTS is listed below. Under the guidance of Joan McCathie we have been very successful in the last 6 months in gaining funding from various Trusts and organisations. Examples of this in the last few months have been, $1700 from Pub Charity for Nursery expenses, $500 from Trust Waikato for the Dominion Road project, $680 from Cambridge Lions for new truck tyres, $1000 from Cambridge Rotary for grasses for Lola silcock Park, $1000 from the Hewitt Trust and $200 worth of petrol vouchers from BP. Regularly we apply to other sources for grants as project needs are identified. For winning the Supreme Award at TrustPower Waipa Community awards we picked up a further $1500.
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2011 SO FAR. Apart from the opening of Lola Silcock Park, which also celebrated 20 years of CTT existence and raised our public profile, we won the Supreme Award at the annual TrustPower Waipa District Community Awards evening in the Cambridge Town Hall. The citation read that it was acknowledgement of the twenty years work that CTT has undertaken to create and improve tracks, create parks and plant trees and shrubs around the town. In my acceptance speech I commented how lucky I was to lead such a buch of enthusiastic volunteers who, ably led by Brian Mayo in the past, have undertaken so much positive environmental change around Cambridge. We received a large certificate, a huge trophy and $1500, and are now in the process of preparing an 8-minute presentation on our work in Lola Silcock Park to present at the national finals in Ashburton next March. David Phillipps is providing his expertise in making a video for this.
Another highlight for me has been the generosity of local nurseries where we have gone to purchase specialist plants for a specific project area and ended up gaining either free plants that were end of season and were to be thrown out, or many plants at greatly reduced rates. We acknowledge both Hoffman's and Brentwood nurseries for such generosity and support. How can you turn down 3 truckloads of free coloured flax? (in excess of 2500 plants). These plants are now in the ground and growing at Lola Silcock Park, Lake Te Ko Utu and the Middle Terrace. We are also blessed by the support we have received from our own members and other Cambridge residents. Many local residents request plants from our nursery for their own rural plantings and from this we receive generous donations. Many plants are sourced by the public for their own use and we end up with the surplus, such as the recent donation of 30+ specimen maples and elms from Jane and John Moodie.
INFORMATION AND PROMOTION. As a result or our Supreme Award win we have had many requests for me to be a guest speaker at various local organisations. Lelsie, Joan and Jill spent some time preparing a magnificent stand-alone display board on our work around town. As a result, I have spoken at St. Andrews village, Resthaven, Windermere, Roto-o-rangi CWI, Cambridge Rotary, the Community Board and the AGM of the CAB. With props like the trophy, the display board, Lola Silcock tree name-plates etc., I have been able to promote the CTT and the work we do, and as a result we have gained new members and donations. In addition we have mounted public displays in the Cambridge Library, Wright's Bookstore and the Information Office.
Regular attendance at WDC meetings has also allowed me to promote our work and I am delighted by the growing assistance we are receiving through Council staff like Max Ward, Tony Roxburgh and the Parks and Reserves team.
NEW TRUCK. This is proving an asset and with its splendid signage it is proving to be a mobile advertising agent. It has been invaluable for Brian's work with the Corrections Department's teams and for the Tuesday group to shift plants, tools, firewood, potting mix etc.
THE LOLA SILCOCK PARK ON BATH ST. We are now in the 3rd year of this 5-year project and the transformation of a weedy, rubbish-filled wilderness to grassed terraces with seats, a picnic table and 2-year-old plants has been remarkable. It is developing into an icon of Cambridge. It is well used and has attracted much favourable attention.
Using a new plan of attack following a visit to Profile Farms and advice from their resident arborist, Kate Findlay, we have made a huge impact on Lola Silcock Park in 2011. Essentially we have adopted a three-stage process which involves spraying weeds, mulching and then planting. This has been done on many banks, bunds and terraces. Our big challenge was to find the huge source of sawdust/chipped mulch required for stage 2. We were delighted to receive excellent co-operation from WDC through Max Ward. WDC provided us with 4 trucks, 4 staff and a loader driver for a day and 37 truckloads of mulch arrived from the WDC stockpile in one day and I was able to greet each truckload and instruct the driver where to dump it. Extra loads were stock-piled. It was an exciting day and within 3 weeks, due to the excellent work of Brian's CD teams we had spread the mulch to 800mm depth over the whole area to be planted.
Specialist grasses and flaxes were ordered from a Rolleston nursery and trucked north in growing-on tubes, and went straight into the ground. It was easy planting and this is where our record 515 plants in a morning came from. The local pukeko loved us as one of the tussocks (carex secta) proved to be a food hit with them and it has been treated like caviar. We have waged an on-going weekly battle with them which we are gradually winning by replanting the ripped-out plants deeper. We planted on Lola Silcock Park for over 2 months and some 4000 plants have found a home there this year.
With COMPLETION one of our project aims this year it is pleasing to report that at RIVERVIEW (at the end of Shakespeare St. above the Kauri Grove) and the SAFFRON SWALE we are now into maintenance and fine tuning, with both areas looking a picture and being well used.
RIVER TERRACE. This area (below 31 Shakespeare St.) has been heavily worked on for the last 2 years. Brian Mayo and his Corrections Department teams have continued to cover this area with mulch and infill planting has occurred this winter. Some heritage fruit trees have been planted and more general maintenance is required in the future, but this project area is now 90% complete. The view of the Waikato River and Victoria Bridge is stunning from here.
LAKE TE KO UTU. This winter we have made a major push to plant many of the banks here. It is a popular high-use area by local residents and visitors. It is an on-going challenge and we expect to work here on a 5-year program. Specifically-purchased nursery plants for this area like proteas, banksias and rhododendrons have been planted here on banks that have been cleared by Brian Mayo and the CD teams. Rengarenga, kawakawa and a truckload of ferns have been planted here, as well as many specimen trees from our nursery. This icon of Cambridge will receive our close attention in 2012-2015 planning. The 30+ elms and maples from Jane and John Moodie have been potted up and will be planted here in 2012. There is still much work to be done and at least 3-4 more years are needed.
DOMINION AVE. We have replicated the Pope Terrace planting at the top of the riverbank opposite the skateboard bowl.
VICTORIA BRIDGE ABUTMENT has been planted this year and in time will be a great improvement.
NOEL ST. EXTENSION. A new link track has been built off the end of Noel St and there is a planting opportunity here on the edge of wetlands for secondary growth trees and shrubs.
DAFFODIL PLANTING. The 2008 planting of 9000 bulbs around Cambridge is having a brilliant spring impact and we continue to gather bulbs to plant as we have in Lola Silcock Park.
MEADOW WALK. The idea of creating a Meadow Walk from River Gardens to Fletcher Place has been mooted for a number of years. Barriers to this project have now been largely resolved after much letter-writing and discussion to the highest level with WDC. Access has now been achieved and our phased development plan for this walkway accepted. A recent walk-through with WDC staff was positive and it is now all go, with several stiles being buit, stock control fences and marker posts erected, and 2 truckloads of native plants already in the ground. A staged retirement over a few years of the fragile riverbank grazed area will see huge potential for us to plant thousands of native plants through which there will be a pleasant Meadow Walk. It will be a major operation for us to source, purchase and grow the plants for such a project. However, it will be a joy to replace the bellowing of cows with bird calls and certainly the surface run-off into the Waikato River will be improved by this riparian planting.
HERITAGE TREES. There is strong interest in establishing groves of heritage trees around town. If anyone knows of such trees around old homesteads in our district and can source them for us we would be delighted to receive cuttings, plants and history. Please help us preserve Cambridges's fruit tree heritage.
BMX ASSISTANCE. We have made donations of plants to this active organisation to assist them in beautifying their new track site.
Around town there are still many small areas that require our attention and we tell ourselves that we will eventually “get around to it” so please be patient. As well, there are major future projects like Karapiro Stream and Cambridge Park which offer huge scope if we want to assist WDC in developing these areas. There is no doubt that there will never be a shortage of things for CTT to do to improve our town's environment.
2011 has been one of the most productive and successful years in the Cambridge Tree Trust's 20-year history, and we hope that in partnership with the WDC this will continue in future years. Please feel free to get involved in some of the many projects that will be going on in 2012 and beyond.
Don Willoughby
Chairman
Cambridge Tree Trust
Supreme Award Winner, TrustPower Waipa Community Awards 2011.
September 2011
