FuturEcology & EmGuard ™ January 2022 update
Welcome to 2022! I guess we’re like the rest of you, hoping for a better year where Covid-19 doesn’t dominate our lives and we can see some great projects come to fruition.
So far summer has been very kind to us with such gorgeous hot sunny days, although this means dragging water around our property to keep the gardens alive. We had a lovely family Christmas in Taranaki with spectacular weather every day and the treat of some beautiful gardens to visit, including Tūpare Gardens in New Plymouth..
Robert has been looking at some very exciting projects in the Marlborough District, including working with the Whale Trail Trust (The Marlborough/Kaikoura Trail Trust) who are creating a cycleway going all the way from Picton to Kaikoura. He has also been looking at some interesting wetland projects in the Awatere Valley and Pelorus area. So some fantastic projects being done around the region this year.
Judging by where our EmGuards ™ are going, there are some great projects happening around the whole country too.
Just a reminder our EmGuard ™ prices are increasing from the 5th of January 2022 to $1.96 inc GST due to a rise in manufacturing and distribution costs.
Tupere Gardens in New Plymouth
Welcoming Emma to the Team
Emma was the creator of EmGuards ™ when she was 15 and has since been busy travelling and studying.
Having completed her studies in Wellington, Emma is back in Nelson and fizzing to start work with FuturEcology and getting know all our EmGuard ™ customers and their projects. Emma completed a marketing degree and is now the Marketing and Distribution Coordinator for EmGuards ™ so she will be your main point of contact.
Emma enjoys getting out and about and is looking forward to making the most of camping, tramping and paddle boarding around the Top of the South.
Altimarloch
FuturEcology Ltd has just started a major wetland restoration in the Awatere Valley, Marlborough. This is being undertaken on the Altimarloch Vineyard property under the watchful eye of vineyard manager Shane Roloff, himself a wetland enthusiast and instigator of the project.
Work commenced with the completion of a plan and is now underway with the clearance of willows and other weeds from the planting site. It is amazing how quickly willows grow left unchecked, a small job one year becomes a mammoth task a year or two later.
We will be planting up to 3,000 plants into this wetland this winter following extensive clearance of rank grasses and other weeds. Presently this area is an unused area between two vineyard blocks that has been identified as a wetland.
One of the issues in the Awatere Valley is that any areas of land that is unmanaged, either not in grapes or not under grazing, will grow Old Man’s Beard, Clematis vitalba. The scale of the problem up here has to be seen to be believed. Many of the escarpments between terraces are now covered in large vines smothering any vegetation underneath.
Fortunately many of the valley’s landowners have recognised the problem and are proactively looking for solutions to deal with it. One option can be to fence stock into these areas for a short time to open up access for further control.
The Altimarloch wetland will add to other wetlands on the property and certainly add to the natural values of what is an amazing property.
View to the west looking over the wetland
Citizenship planting:
Jan, Laura and Ben planting Black Beech
Over the last few years FuturEcology Ltd has been involved with a number of Citizenship plantings for the Nelson City Council. This year whilst continuing to support the Nelson City Council we decided to mark the NZ citizenship of team leader Ben Pavitt’s partner, Laura.
We marked this one wet day late last year with afternoon tea followed by a planting of 5 Black Beech trees along the Wakapuaka River in Nelson.
Black Beech, Fuscospora solandri, was once a common tree in North Nelson. Land clearance for grazing has seen the demise of this lovely tree with few replacements coming on. As these remnant trees die then so to does the link with the forest that formerly clothed the low hills of Nelson North.
We thought the Black Beech planting was a great way to celebrate the citizenship of Laura and wish her and Ben all the best for the future.
Weed Challenge of the Week
Atriplex prostrata
Common name: Orache/ Creeping saltbush
Last week Jan was tidying up a planting FuturEcology did last year in a salt marsh in Atawhai, Nelson. She came across some plants in EmGuards that had been totally engulfed in Atriplex prostrata. It was impossible to pull the weed out from the top or lift the guard from the bottom to track the root. Luckily, with the clever design of the EmGuard, Jan was able to remove the stake and peel the EmGuard open to remove the offending weed. She was then able to put the guard back on, good as new and left behind one very grateful plant.
Astriplex prostrata is common in coastal areas in New Zealand. The plant has slender ribbed stems that are dark red. The sparse arrow-shaped leaves are green but often redden with age. The plant flowers between December and February, pollination occurs by wind. Unfortunately, the plant grows very rapidly and quickly smothers other vegetation.
For those of you back at work and getting back into the swing of things, we hope it is going well.
We are starting to compile our pre-orders with our EmGuard ™ manufacturer, so if you know your approximate numbers for this year and want to order guards, please advise us as early as possible to ensure we can get them to you on time.
Thank you.