FuturEcology & EmGuard ™ March 2023 update.
Welcome to Autumn.
We can’t believe how quickly the days are getting shorter and we are certainly enjoying that lovely crispness in the morning followed by some gorgeous days. But, oh my goodness, have the wasps exploded in the last few weeks!
They are obviously enjoying this autumn weather too. Just about everyone in our team has been stung more than once in the last few weeks and wasps are such a difficult threat to guard against. At every site, we carry a puffer full of “Dust 2 Dust” for killing nests and we keep a very good eye out for wasps on all our sites. However, long grass, uneven ground and the fact that they nest in the ground makes them an extreme hazard. Vespex is a wonderful control tool, but the wasps must be taking protein for it to be effective.
Please stay very vigilant when you are out, especially if you are clearing round plants or walking through long grass. Beware also of the paper wasp nests in guards and on plants, as we have seen some very big nests this year and their stings are just awful.
Canes, canes, canes and more canes.
Last year, bamboo canes were a bit like hen’s teeth so this year we have been very proactive and ordered more or less a year’s worth. These arrived a couple of weeks ago, so space is now at a premium in our workshop with everyone dodging canes as they work.
However, it has meant we have been able to keep the price the same as last year, 30 cents each exc GST. If you know you need canes, please get your orders in nice and early to ensure you secure your supply and even better, also give us a bit of space.
Autumn also brings with it the urgency to get maintenance on planting sites finished to enable them to be bedded down for winter. At the same time, we are preparing new sites for the winter planting season. As soon as soil moisture is suitable, it is good to get plants in the ground so they get a chance to establish a little bit of white root before winter hits. However, in colder climates it is vital to ensure that your plants have been hardened off to cope with frosts. EmGuards are pretty good at assisting with a bit of frost protection as well as all the other benefits.
All the best to everyone with your planting and restoration projects and our thoughts are still with everyone in Hawke’s Bay, Coromandal, Auckland and Northland as they systematically deal with the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle. Kia kaha and take care.
Motueka River gravel extraction pit remediation
By Alvin Bartley
Our first planting of the year kicked off a couple weeks ago in Motueka. FuturEcology are guiding the remediation works for a gravel extraction pit along the Motueka River by forming shallow water wetland conditions around the margins of the pit.
The team worked closely with local expert, Terry and Fulton Hogan to form the naturalised finish, which FuturEcology are planting. This will create wetland habitat along the edge of the Motueka River.
Gravel extraction has become contentious along the river, but this approach is trialling a new standard for a methodology that intends to enhance the environment post extraction. With the littoral planting complete, riparian planting will commence in April 2023.
YES Kickstart 2023
By Emma Fryer
This month, I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at the Young Enterprise Kickstart event.
I reflect very fondly on my experience with YES, as it is such a big part of the EmGuard story. It was a real privilege to be able to attend the Kickstart event and talk with several inspired students setting out to make a difference.
Feel free to read my speech detailing a little bit more about my time with YES here.
Weed of the Month
Silver Birch - Betula pendula
Who would have thought of the Silver Birch as a weed tree? In the past month, we have been dealing with large infestations of this in precious wetlands in the alpine village of St Arnaud, near Nelson Lakes, on behalf of Tasman District Council.
Silver birch is a medium sized deciduous tree that gets its name from the white, peeling bark on the trunk. It is native to Europe and parts of Asia and its timber is valued for joinery, tanning and firewood.
Leaves have short, slender stalks and are triangular , 3-7 cm long with pointed tips and coarsely double-toothed serrated margins. The trees have both male and female catkins and seeds are produced in late summer. These seeds are wind spread, so can spread widely.
What we have found is that the sphagnum moss in wetlands provides the perfect seedraising bed for birch seeds. Being from northern Europe, the alpine environment is also ideally suited to the fast growth of these trees.
While working in the wetland, we got a phone call from a wetland expert who had surveyed the wetland 12 years ago and had advised that it would be good to remove the 5 birch trees! If only that had happened, as now there are probably 50,000 and counting.
How are we dealing with them?
Large trees – these are poisoned with 50% glyphosate mix using the drill and fill method with a 12mm hole drilled at 45 degree angle into the tree trunk every 100mm and filled with the glyphosate mix.
Medium sized trees – scrub-barred off at ground level and each stump pasted with Cut N Paste – Glimax professional.
Seedlings – sprayed carefully with grazon 6mls/litre mixed with 10mls dye so we could see where we had been.
So the lesson learned, is to be very aware of any ornamental tree that may become a weed issue in your environment. This could be due to ideal conditions existing for them to spread, particularly so if they produce wind born or bird spread seed.
Trainee Rangers
By Emma Fryer
This month we were lucky enough to have the Trainee Rangers from NMIT work with us to gain some practical experience. Work involved learning about the maintenance and targeted weed control on a planting project.
We were so impressed with the enthusiasm and work ethic from many of the students. It was a great day of learning, conversation and making a real difference to the success of the planting project.
Thank you NMIT Trainee Rangers for being a part of our quest to save the planet one tree at a time. We look forward to working with you again.
Interesting Snippets
At the Movies
Robert and I went to the movies a couple of weeks ago to see “Living” starring Bill Nighy.
It is a 2022 film adapted from the 1952 Japanese film, Ikiru.
Set in 1953, Bill Nighy plays the part of Rodney Williams, a senior London County Council bureaucrat in the Public Works Department.
His day starts every day with a train trip into London with all the other black-suited bureaucrats, to a desk surrounded by stacks of paperwork.
There are a group of young mothers trying to get a playground built in a bombed out site and as you can well imagine, the project has become well stuck in the depths of the Council office. (Shades of me twenty years ago trying to start a preschool in North Nelson with a group of young mothers and coming up against bureaucracy at every turn – we won by the way, and got our preschool).
Back to the story, Mr Williams receives some devastating news regarding his health. The film goes on to explore what legacy we leave, having inhabited the planet for x number of years.
A very thought provoking film and well worth seeing.
By Jan Fryer
Life is an interesting thing, isn’t it. You never quite know what is round the corner.
There have been some very major and quite traumatic life events happening to some of our team this month and as always, our hearts go out to everyone facing difficult times.
It is also the 4th anniversary of the mosque attack and we remember everyone affected by that terrible event.
Please take the time to smell the roses, hug a family member, tell someone you love them and enjoy the sunsets. Remember that birds start every new day with a song.
