Environment New Zealand CU – The extinction of indigenous plants and animals has been occurring at rapid rates in last few decades, as a result of forest clearing for agriculture and urban development.
24 students from the Facility Management team of University of Canterbury (UC) with support from the School of Forestry planted 654 tawhai rauriki seedlings on day 1 of the programme. The tawhai rauriki which is known as mountain beech in Maori is a species indigenous to New Zealand.
The planting of native tress has several advantages that outweigh other plants as native plants can adapt well to its natural environment and are generally non-invasive while not encroaching into the space of other plants. Native plants also generally require less water and fertilizer in comparison to other plants as they are well adapted to the local area. Quite often many tree planting programs result in in the planted trees dying out due to poor adaptation and low maintenance, however with indigenous plants these problems can minimized.
“This long-term forest restoration project will become an annual event and will focus around forest restoration activities on Remus Hill at Cass,” said UC Associate Professor of Forest Economics David Evison and further stated “Planting and other activities in the area will develop practical skills in forest restoration among our students as well as providing opportunities for on-the-ground learning.”
Cass is situated in the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island. Professor Evison explained that site will be a center multidisciplinary long-term research projects led by UC’s School of Forestry. As time goes by questions around establishment, herbivory, seedling propagation, plant associations for shelter, mountain beech growth, and management and economic considerations will be evaluated.
The project is a collaboration between School of Forestry and UCSA student club Forestry Society (FORSOC) together with the Waimakariri Ecological and Landscape Restoration Alliance.
