Join us on the 3rd of February at Lake Serpentine/Rotopiko to celebrate the start of the National Wetland Centre project. Take a walk up our virtual 'garden path' showcasing our plans for a series of gardens representing New Zealand's range of wetland types, and talk to designers about plans for the visitor building and exhibits.

10.30am - 3pm, Lake Serpentine, SH3 (3 km south of Ohaupo between Hamilton and Te Awamutu).

Free buses may be available from Hamilton - check with us closer to the time. See our World Wetlands Day page for more details.

We will launch the start of construction on the pest fence at Lake Serpentine - site of the proposed National Wetland Centre. 

After a brief ‘ground-breaking’ ceremony, event-goers can walk a virtual ‘garden path’ following the route of the planned wetland gardens (estuary, braided river, alpine tarn, geothermal wetland) to the site of the proposed visitor centre. Posters will provide artists impressions, and you will be able to talk to the Trustees and designers about your ideas for the centre.

• A range of fun activities await beyond the garden path walk. Currently being planned are:
• An intrepid journey with the Bog Man – join Keith Thompson on a guided walk around South Lake on newly acquired reserve land – no formal path, this will be truly new territory for the public.
• Wetland master classes  - art and photography courses, flax weaving, and more.
• Kids competitions  - make a bog in a cup, drawing and other fun activities
• Caching for a Cause – learn the art of geocaching (treasure hunts for grownups) and complete a wetland restoration challenge using GPS to locate the task
• Scaling a Jurassic giant – watch expert tree climbers prussick up an ancient kahikatea tree in the search for weird and wonderful plant life
• Watch local artists capturing the beauty of this special site in oils, watercolours or charcoal

Free entry. We are currently seeking sponsorship to run a free bus from Hamilton, part of our sustainable transport plan for the site.

Bring: picnic, walking shoes, water, sun-protection

Contact karen.denyer@wetlandtrust.org.nz

Bat Monitors Available

The Waikato Tree Trust has gifted 8 automatic bat monitors to the Department of Conservation.  These will be added to the monitors already held by them and are available for people in the community to borrow.

An external loans agreement form will be emailed out to the person wanting to loan them, then the bat monitors can be picked up from the Te Rapa office.

Hopefully this will encourage people to become more engaged in their local environment; they will be able to spread the word about any resident bats for protection and enhancement.

The person to contact is Shay Dean on 850 8478 or Sdean@doc.govt.nz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free Swan Plants for Children

We currently have swan plants to give to anyone visiting our Centre.

Grow a couple of these in your garden where children can closely observe the whole Monarch butterfly life cycle from egg to adult!

Remember also that we have various other products at the Centre which will make sensible Christmas gifts, such as worm bins, Bokashi buckets and product, gardening books and locally produced honey. 

We close this Friday - 21 December

and reopen 7 January 2013.

 

 

 

Bioblitz at Miranda

28 February 2013

The Miranda Naturalists' Trust (MNT) is organising a "Bioblitz" of the Miranda Coast between 6 a.m. and midnight on 28 February 2013. The area to be covered essentially encompasses the coastal strip between the Taramaire and Pukorokoro/Miranda Streams, and the adjacent intertidal zone. It will also include the grounds of the Miranda Shorebird Centre and the grazing block on the landward side of the road owned by MNT.

What is a bioblitz?

A day and night survey of an area for all forms of life, with the participation of as many people as possible, including local schools, iwi, district and regional councils, community groups etc, searching for species which are then identified by invited on-site experts.

Why Miranda?

MNT has the opportunity to begin a habitat enhancement and restoration project, and we need to find out what is there. This inventory will allow better planning and also give us baseline data from which we can monitor any changes.

What will we look for?

Mammals - using tracking tunnels and identifying the tracks

Birds - netting, observation

Reptiles - searching for skinks under cover objects throughout the site

Fish - Along the coast and in the streams - eels, flounder as well as small native fish

Invertebrates - animals that live in the mud and are food for the birds and fish.  Also,  the shells that make the shellbanks

Life in the mangroves - the insects, spiders, etc. that live in the coastal area. Including those moths, midges and other insects attracted to lights at nigh.   The tiny animals of the ponds and streams

Plants -  of the salt marsh, the fields, the shellbanks and the waterways

Mosses, lichens, algae and fungi; algae and bacteria of the ponds and streams

How will we know what we find?

A range of experts will be on hand to help locate, identify and display the different forms of life, right down to the microscopic

During the day, we will have "Ted Talks" (10 minutes) from a range of experts on birds, insects, skinks, plants, etc. Also there will be infomation on the geology and history of the area.

This event is not just about research and conservation. It is also about education, and an opportunity for the community to learn more about our biodiversity, and what is required to maintain it.

To indicate interest in participating in this event, or for further details please contact us.

Keith Woodley at Miranda Shorebird Centre, 283 East Coast Road, RD3 Pokeno 2473  or, 09 2322781, shorebird@farmside.co.nz.

 

 

 

 

Epiphyte  Workshop

21 - 23 February 2013

The Environmental Research Institute at the University of Waikato is pleased to announce a workshop focussing on New Zealand's epiphytes, vines and mistletoes.

Please find a pdf poster attached with further information. It would be greatly appreciated if you could circulate this within your networks.

Register soon as space is limited!

Queries to: epiphytes@waikato.ac.nz

 

Congratulations to Catherine Smith who received a Civic Award for her contribution to conservation in the Waikato. Catherine has tirelessly advocated for protection and improvement in our natural environment. She is a longstanding member of Tui 2000, and has been closely involved in the contribution that Tui is making to the Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park project, organising the potting of plants at the Tamahere Nursery, attending working days and is a member of the Waiwhakareke Advisory Group. 

She has also been a member of the group working at Barrett's Bush just outside Hamilton, and is also a regular worker at the Jubilee Bush Weedbusters group. Her advocacy skills were well excercised as Chair of the Advisory Committee for Regional Environment (ACRE)  for nine years.

Catherine with Tui 2000 members, Katherine Hay, Moira Cursey, Catherine Smith, Maxine Fraser with Councillor Daphne Bell

It was also good to see another award in the Environment category. This went to Avis Leeson, who has been involved in promoting vegetable garden growing in schools for many years. As a very young 82 year old, Avis is still working with schools and volunteers in schools showing children where their food is coming from. 

Congratulations to both of them, may the Environmental sector produce many more award winners.

All the Civic Award winners: Back Row: Bob Anderson, Melis Van der Sluis, Mayor Julie Hardaker, Francis Charlton, Bruce Clark
Front row: Avis Leeson, Lillian Kershaw, Catherine Smith, Vicki Signal

 

 

 

Media Release 14 December 2012

 Volunteer environmental efforts rewarded

 The Waikato Environment Centre celebrated the work of the volunteers in the Environmental sector on Wednesday night with a function held at the Waikato Migrant Resource Centre. Guests enjoyed a guided walk through nearby Jubilee Bush to see the results of six years’ weeding by the local Weedbusters group, before attending the awards presentations.

Sally Sheedy, Parks and Open Spaces Manager at HCC, presented the 2012 Hamilton City Council Kowhai award to the Tzu Chi Foundation. This group of twenty plus volunteers have been helping to restore the riverbank and gully areas at Te Hikuwai Reserve since 2006, during which time the area has transformed from a weed-infested gully and river margin into a flourishing natural area, now being visited regularly by tui.

Members of the group are often new migrants to Hamilton and the project has enabled them to make contact with local residents and with their natural good spirit overcome communication barriers. Coordinator, Peter Hsaio, accepted the award on behalf of the group.

Photo: Peter Hsiao, Mrs Lin Suyen and Dr. Lim Woei Chet

Friends of Pukemokemoke scooped the Print House sponsored award for a group involved in conservation work in the Waikato region. Alan Leadley accepted the award from Waikato Environment Centre chair, Jason Cargo, on behalf of the group and described some of the work that they have been undertaking. Pukemokemoke Bush reserve is situated about 7kms from Woodlands near Gordonton, and the group has worked incredibly hard clearing impenetrable stands of privet, and converting the land into a beautiful picnic area for the local community. They have also put in a boardwalk in the flood-prone area, irradicated pest animals, and planted huge numbers of trees. Besides all that they have also produced a school resource and volunteers regularly take visitors and school educational groups through the reserve.

Photo: Alan Leadley from Friends of Pukemokemoke accepting the Print House Award from Jason Cargo, Chair of Waikato Environment Centre, with Centre Manager Katherine Hay

The prize for an individual, a print from local artist, Adrienne Grant, was awarded to Jan Simmons in recognition of her outstanding contribution towards biodiversity restoration which she undertakes in her own time as a volunteer, promoting the planting of native plant species around Hamilton and areas beyond. She has been the convenor of Eco-sourced Waikato since its inception in 2000.

Maxine Fraser, a fellow volunteer, says that, “Jan is always cheerful, listening carefully to people’s plant questions, and giving her time and sharing her knowledge freely.”

Jan began a major voluntary project in 2005, when she established and continues to oversee volunteers at the Tamahere Community Nursery to provide eco-sourced plants for local use by gully owners. The nursery also now accommodates specialist enrichment plants for the Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park near Hamilton Zoo. Activities include eco-sourced seed collection, potting up, weeding and education.

Other voluntary biodiversity projects she works on are weed clearance in Whewells Bush (DoC reserve in Matangi); providing plants and labour for a Pirongia wetland restoration and for a bush enhancement on a Waitomo farm.

Congratulations to the winners and thanks from the community for all their hard work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Gifts at the Centre

(Don't forget Green Card members receive 10% discount!)

Worm bins  (worms can be ordered)

Bokashi buckets 

Honey

"How to Grow Your own Food",  "Tree Crops in New Zealand", and other tiltes

Moon calendars

DoC pamphlets on great NZ walks

Help promote best environmental practices to friends and family this Christmas by gifting them an eco-friendly item from our sales table.  

We are open 10am to 4pm each weekday, the last day for this year being Friday 21 December.

Waikato Environment Centre

25 Ward Street

Hamilton

Phone 07 839 4452