Part Five

The Wetland

It’s surprising that anyone would be wanting to preserve land that is wet, but there is a need to retain areas that are different from the norm, especially when the ‘dry lands’ that are so common throughout our region have in many instances been created by the actions of people. I often think that the best thing the Estuary Care group did, with regard Te Wai Korari wetland was to buy it in the first place, then fence it off from stock. To me, that is the most significant act. Further developments there; the creation of the ponds and the tracks and bridges etc. is or far lesser importance in my view. I’ve noticed that there has been a resurgence in the growth of mingimingi throughout the wetter, flaxier areas and this is very gratifying. We had planned to grow huge numbers of the estuarine coprosma for planting out on the lower sites but there seems to be no need as nature has done it for us. I find that very encouraging. The edges of the reserve, where the waves of the estuary break, are eroding fairly quickly and there is nothing we can do about that. It is probably wisest to ‘go with that flow’ and see what develops. As King Canute demonstrated, there’s no holding back the tide. The cabbage trees we have planted over the years are now growing strongly and becoming a feature that is visible from the highway, as was our hope. More ti kouka are entering the nursery now, as seedlings and are destined to join the maturing specimens at the reserve.

Walkway Proposals to further develop a walkway behind the town, beginning at the museum and extending right through to Te Wai Korari wetland are being put forward by various groups in the town. These promise to be exciting and controversial, as they will involve some significant changes to land use alongside of the estuary but no one seems to phased by that thought so far. There are even plans to explore the feasibility of bringing the Observatory out from Invercargill and setting it up at a point along the proposed walkway. That would certainly give strength to the plans to tidy up and beautify the estuary edge, which at present is used in an industrial way by carrier firms.

Winton Blokes The “Blokes Day Out’ at Winton was mainly a matter of grunty motorcycles, gun-toting army personel, mechanical-bull riding and big rigs, but not entirely! There was one stand that featured the manly art of … gardening. Under the banner, ‘Real Men Have Big Gardens”, Adam and Robert Guyton displayed their wares and flew a kite for useful manly pursuits, giving advice to anyone interested on how to supply the family with healthy, home grown food. Their display of seeds attracted a lot of attention and discussion from older gardeners who still keep the art alive. The younger men attending the day were interested in providing for their families, but seemed to be at the ‘I’ll get onto that soon’ stage. Robert and Adam (who played his mandolin during periods of quiet) encouraged everyone they met, to get started straight away and not delay - ‘There’s a downturn coming’, they emphasised and many visitors to the stand agreed.

Election night proved very sobering for the environmentalists in our household. A strong win by the right wing National Party and their even-further-right Act partners was not a good sign for the environment, they felt. Rodney Hide’s ‘ climate change is a hoax’ mantra didn’t inspire much confidence in the likely moves the new Government will take, nor did the thought that the party most expert in environmental matters, the Greens, had decided that National was taking the wrong direction with their plans for environmental management. The next three years are likely, our panel of ‘green thinkers’ thought, to be a set back in terms of the New Zealand environment, but, ever optimistic as they are, plans were hatched to speed up the positive work in light of a possible downturn in progress on the environment over the country.