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Winter 2007In this Issue: South Coast Environment Society AGM RIVERTON ORGANIC FARMERS MARKET
New Time: Fridays 3pm-5pm at the Environment Centre
Our dairy farmers will now do all deliveries on Friday throughout Southland in one big round trip and will be at the Centre at 3pm. This will enable them to be more effective in using their time and travel miles, rather than single trips almost each day of the week. We have decided to change our market time to match and hope we can still serve everyone’s needs. For those who can’t make it, you can leave your order and containers at the Centre in the fridge. We will stay open until 7.30pm for you to pick up your orders. The Centre will be open also 1.30-4.30 weekend afternoons. NATIONAL changes in the funding of Environment Centres In 2001 there were only 5 Environment Centres in NZ a lot of their energy was used for fundraising to cover their basic costs. The Riverton Centre had been running for 5 years and the Nelson, Dunedin and Christchurch Centres for much longer. Only one was in the North Island. Rod Donald managed to get $300,000 annually to support Environment Centres. This top up available of up to $50,000 each supported running costs and some basic salaries. For one year this was fantastic- we all had the funds as was intended to be more active in our education programmes and establish professional and well equipped offices. We could also employ a part time office person, co-ordinators and educators. This turned out to be a one-off bonus, as many more groups throughout NZ started Environment Centres and sought funding Rods intention of $50,000 per Centre was watered down. By 2006 there were 42 environment Centres all competing for the same $300,000 and the very few lucky ones received $10,000 - $30,000 based on their needs and value of their projects. The insecurity of funding year by year had a negative effect on committee members, staff and volunteers. The number of projects we were willing to be involved in was affected as we were nervous to plan too far ahead. We all thought the best idea was for the Government to increase the fund and make it more long term, and funding security would mean Centres could work together for the good of the earth rather than feeling other Centres were competition to your own Centre’s survival. In 2006, the Government conducted a survey and put the funding scheme under ‘Community Relations’ part of the Ministry for the Environment’. We recently (last month) received a letter explaining the changes: ‘The improvements: The Government has recognised the demand for communities to have a focal point for people and groups to meet and organise local environmental events benefiting their communities the funding will be for 3 years and the successful Centres will be helped to network and work together with a paid national hui for two representatives of each Environment Centre is in Napier in the last weekend of June’. The not-so-good parts: The amount of funding nationally remains at $300,000 and only one Centre per region could get through, and two for Auckland will be funded. So basically if you don’t get through this years funding round you are out of luck for three years. Invercargill, Riverton were two of the 12 (or so) funded Centres 2006, only one of us was eligible for support under this new policy. Southland is the loser here as Te Anau is just starting an Environment Centre and we had hoped to have one more in the Gore area! I know we often hear these comments- ‘every town needs one of these’, or ‘I wish I had a Centre in my area, or when I get back to …… (some where overseas)….. I am going to start one up!’ The challenge for our province is to support our Environment Centres and work towards being known internationally as ‘Sustainable South’ and attract world wide visitors to see our shining environmental example in spite of the new Government policies. FUNDING DISAPPOINTMENT Just before the Hui the Government released the results of the three year funding round, with the 9 regions with only one Environment Centre receiving $24,000 each every year for three years for that Centre. Raglan and Hamilton put in a joint application to share the funding for their region getting half each. Southland had two applications and in an effort by the Government to be fair we also ended up being funded $12,000 each annually for three years. (Nelson got $24,000, the other $250.000 went to the North Island) The two half-funded rural-based Environment Centres, Raglan & Riverton, are now going to struggle to stay open. Unlike the city based Centres we haven’t got the network of local funding options and support that our city cousins already enjoy. One size of national financial support doesn’t fit all! This is a big disappointment to us as under the old system where funding decisions were based on the Centres merits and needs Riverton was almost guaranteed to get adequate funding each year because we were one of the most active an eligible Centres in NZ…so to us it seems so unfair that we are now one of the least funded Centres This will test our resilience….with our rent nearly $7000 a year we only have $5,000 left….. so it is back to fundraising for us for at least the next three years…. Any ideas and suggestions will be appreciated! First Environment Centre Hui Napier is a stylish town. The earthquake of 1931 resulted in a total rebuild of the town and it looks good; art deco buildings, colourful fountains along the waterfront, as many cafes as you could hope for…a great place for a holiday when the snow is lying on the ground down south! Robyn and I escaped the cold and flew to the first Environment Centre’s Hui, held at the Crown Hotel in Napier in June. Representatives from all over the country arrived in time for the powhiri and began the business of getting to know each other. Preparations were then made to greet the Ministry representatives and put to them our views on what was needed for the continued flourishing of the ‘Environment Centre movement’. These discussions centred around funding, naturally, then branched out into ways to make Centres more effective in what they do. To this end a presentation from Saatchi and Saatchi proved valuable and stimulating , as we all sought to create a ‘love-mark’, that we could adopt and use to bring on board greater number of supporters and fire-up the public over issues that we promote. Presentations from each Centre were exciting and provoked a scramble of idea-trading and address-swapping. The wide range of activities undertaken by the various Centres around the country was apparent and no Centre was like any other, certainly none was quite like ours. We were very pleased to find that our own efforts here in Riverton stood up well beside those of much larger towns and cities and that we had a distinctive brand of our own, where we provide a very broad range of services to people coming into the Centre from some distance away. It was a good opportunity to promote Riverton and its 'greener' face this has resulted in a higher profile for the town and we expect many more visits by influential people in environmental spheres……. A key point of difference for us is our longevity – we now are one of the longest lasting Centres in the country and certainly one with a colourful and interesting history. We did feel an affinity with the Raglan Environment Centre, both of us being situated by the sea and operating now ‘on a shoe string’! They have a support team of creative people as do we and will face the challenge of the next three thin years with determination also. Napier was fertile and enjoyable ground for us all and we are very grateful to the Ministry and it’s people for the chance to get together and korero atu korero mai. Robert OFFICE NEWS AND VIEWS There has been a bit of a personnel change at SCES. Sharon Robinson who has held various roles with us including Office Manager and lately as Treasurer has resigned and along with her family will be moving to a warmer climate in the North Island somewhere. We want to take this opportunity to thank her for all her work over the last few years and also to wish her and the family well in the future. She has left the accounts in Wendy’s hands and will be available on a Consultant basis until she shifts north! (Wendy is extremely grateful for this!!). Because Wendy has now taken up the Treasurer’s role, she has relinquished most of the Society’s Secretary duties. These have been taken over by Geoff Dembo. Robyn will be giving the office a clean-up in the near future so if you have anything personal in the office it might be wise to remove it before then! We are also trying to keep the office a bit tidier generally. If you use something like scissors, pens, staplers or any other piece of office equipment, PLEASE put it back in the drawer you found it in. It makes it easier for the next person who uses it if they don’t have to search for it first. Thanks Wendy COMING UP: Visit our frequently updated web site for up to date information on events and workshops. www.sces.org.nz Get your name on the lists in the Centre for any course you are interested in. Cob Oven building workshop- we have already had a lot of interest shown in this and we will be running this in the spring. Sustainable Living Course- this Nationally acclaimed course is a must for us all and we will run these on demand at times to suit participants. 2007/8 Subs due now, form enclosed Open Orchard Update There has been a very positive response to the Open Orchard promotion, a letter to the Southland Times outlining the project, with people around the district wanting to plant fruit trees and others wishing to provide cuttings from old trees they know of in their area. Most of the supply of seedling trees grown at my Riverton orchard have been sent out to various sites already and the next step is to order rootstock from a commercial nursery and graft our special varieties on to those in late winter. There will be a workshop on how go about grafting and if you would like to try your hand, leave your name with the Environment Centre. During a recent trip to Nelson I sought out heirloom apples at roadside stalls and markets and found quite a few. Names like ‘Winesap’, ‘Black Twig’ and ‘Dougherty’ caught my eye and I will try to secure grafting material for these later. The apples were delicious to eat and the growers very keen to discuss their treasures. I took a lot of photos for the record and if you are keen to see these unusual apples, contact me. More recently This created so much interest that a full page article was in this months Southland Times. Search Google, ‘Heritage Apples’ and it comes up first- with this lovely picture! We now have people from all over the region ‘signed up’ to help bring back the old orchard and their fascinating fruit trees. For our part, we are organising lists of suitable trees and nurseries to buy them from for those who want quick results and workshops and visits to those who would like to collect and graft their own heritage trees. Already we have visited a couple of orchards , one a delight to behold where the trees have been cared for and even carry their original name tags and the other sadly ‘’let go’’ with most of it’s old trees cut down and stacked as fire wood. It seems that there is no time to lose. We visited elderly Jim Dunkley of Oamaru where we saw how thorough and well organised he is with his information collecting and how very knowledgeable he is on the topic of apples. It would be a very rare apple indeed that couldn’t be identified by Jim, given his books on the topic and his knowledge of the histories of each breed. We also visited the Sutherland Nursery in Waitati specialising in Southern heritage apples and talked with Jason Ross about new-old varieties. I bought a dozen different apple trees from him for the Community Orchard here and they looked very healthy indeed. Local School Orchard Takes Shape Students from Aparima College have begun to plant their new fruit orchard on land nearby to the college as part of their Enviroschools programme. Enthusiasm for the project is high amongst the students – it’s a chance to get out of the classroom and into the environment and be involved in a long term project that they will enjoy for many years to come. The trees for the orchard have been provided by the South Coast Environment Centre where heritage apple, plum and pear trees are being promoted and grown and advice and help with tree selection and planting is being provided by volunteers from the Centre. Many of the berry fruit bushes were grown by students from 2006 with cuttings taken in the winter and grown-on in the college’s horticulture unit. An under story of legumes and flowering annuals is being developed using seed balls, rolled in their thousands by the Junior School’s environment teams. The soil in the orchard is very sandy and will benefit from the action of these nitrogen fixing plants. This orchard is twin to the Riverton Community Orchard presently being planted behind the Fire Station. This section shaping up very well to become a mixed and multi-layered fruiting forest. Most of the main trees are planted, interspaced with fruiting bushes such as black currants and gooseberries and an unknown but large number of seeds have been sown amongst them. The ducks have the snail problem totally beaten and there is no sign of slugs either! Vines are set against the fences (hops, grapes, Manchurian gooseberries. and others) and we have begun to harvest rainwater from the rooves of the neighbour’s sheds. Everything is going according to plan. This all means that in the near future fresh organically grown fruit from our own area will be available to our young people. These two orchards in turn are part of the Southland-wide ‘Open Orchard’ project that seeks to establish orchards throughout the region. If you have an interest in these projects, contact Robert on 2348249. Your input will be appreciated. A heritage apple a day keeps the doctor away ….they are naturally full of anti-oxidants and other health giving properties. The varieties of taste and textures are wonderful! “It is rare that the summer lets an apple go without streaking or spotting it on some part of its sphere. It will have some red stains, commemorating the mornings and evenings it has witnessed; some dark and rusty blotches, in memory of the clouds and foggy, mildew-y days that have passed over it; …. green even as the fields….yellow as the harvest, or russet as the hills.” Henry Thoreau BEWARE of those perfect looking supermarket apple varieties breed for the purpose, a Waikato University study showed are sadly lacking in the health properties that the old varieties have. SOME SAD NEWS Some of you will remember Dave Moss and Bie Baker who had lots to do with the environmental activities both in Riverton and around Southland. They left Riverton a few years ago for Wellington and sadly Bie developed cancer. She died last week and our Society sent flowers and our thoughts to Dave and the girls. The Guyton’s diverted their flights on the way to the Napier Hui to be at her funeral. Unfortunately the terrible weather delayed their flights and they didn’t arrive in Wellington until the evening. All they could do was to give Dave a call to explain their absence. Kiwi Conservation in the Cold
We have a lively bunch of 20 primary school children who come each Thursday 3.30-5.00pm to learn about the South Coast Eco-systems and how to care for them.
The challenges faced by the KCC teachers when the weather is grotty are manifold! The liveliness of the youngsters and their desire to roam through bush and beach whatever the weather keeps us on our toes at all times. We have done well so far, with seed ball making, poster creation and, in the middle of today’s thunder storms, film watching and an interview with a ‘Pest Buster’ (Warwick McCallum), but we are all hoping for better weather next week in order to get outside and plant our trees for Arbour Day – two weeks late! Our young conservationists are fun to work with and bring a lot of their own outdoor experiences to the discussions. Riverton children seem to be quite familiar with the natural world of forest and ocean, with parents who fish, farm and hunt, and are not afraid to get wet, cold and dirty!
Our last week for Term 2 saw us invade the local wood work room at the high school and make 15 bird feeding tables to attract the birds. We will be going on a trip in July to The BIG Totara’s that are about an hours drive away in a special reserve- these trees are about 1000 years old and would have been pecked at by moa when they were young! If you are not in KCC but would like to come along on this trip you are very welcome just phone the Centre office and we will let you know the details- it will be on a Sunday in mid to late July. Maimai!
With the duck hunting season upon us, people of Riverton were puzzled by the sudden appearance of a maimai, not in the middle of the estuary as is customary, but built on the new viewing platform nearby to the town. It was only when the banner proclaiming the opening of the white elephant hunting season went up that people realised that this was another in the series of light-hearted protests over the building of the platform that many people consider too big and too expensive. The elephant theme has been well explored with flags flying, wooden cut-outs attached to the ‘dolphin’ and even a floating 3-d elephant drifting by as the official speeches were being made at the opening ceremony. It is pleasing to note that no elephants were harmed during the protests and that Rivertonian’s still have a sense of humour. Yvonne SOUTHLAND SEED SAVERS Hi all you growers of plants and ultimately seeds. Robyn and I hope to have the 2007 seed catalogue out to you in late July this year. Thank you to those who have sent seeds in. We appreciate them very much. Our stocks are a little low in some areas but we are hoping to build them up again with your help. If you think you might be able to grow some seeds for us and you have green fingers please call into the centre and talk to Robyn or Yvonne. Keep your chin up through winter and let us focus on happy growing days in the Spring. Cheers Robyn and Yvonne PERMACULTURE SOUTH Robyn and Robert attended the ‘Climate Change and Energy Decline Symposium’ in Oamaru in April. Groups from as far north as Nelson were represented. David Holmgren from Australia Co-founder of Permaculture spoke as well as Susan Kriemadek (sp?) a highly respected researcher from Canterbury University. It was a fantastic insight into possible futures for NZ and how important it is for communities to localize their food and energy needs ‘just in case’. A network group is now set up where South Island communities can share ideas and support one another to be prepared. It is called LEDA (Local Energy Decline Action). Our small community of Riverton is already leading the way e.g. with a local organic farmers market and our chemical free cleaners chart was a great hit. Recently the Sustainable Living course received 3 Million dollars for such initiatives from the Government. The time has come for us all to rethink the way we live and make meaningful changes. Call into the Centre and look through our extensive resources on appropriate technologies etc.. If you can’t find what you want leave a note and Yvonne will do some research in our archives for you. PERMACULTURE COURSE IN RIVERTON Robina McMurdo is finalizing an Autumn 08 Permaculture Design Course to be held in Riverton. This 10-14 day course is very popular so if you are interested please get your name down quickly as places will be limited. Phone the Centre 2348717 to register your interest. We hope to get some funding to subsidize the cost to Southlanders. The one last Autumn in Wanaka was full and drew in people from all over the world. Robina is very excited to come to Riverton as she has heard a lot about all the good things we are doing down here! RIVERTON ORGANIC FOOD CO-OP NEWS The Food Co-op continues to do well and we have new faces visiting us and buying things every week. The message about organic food is spreading as more people are made aware of the harmful effects of some food ingredients and also the chemicals that are used to produce some foods. I can only surmise that the organic food industry will become busier as more people opt for healthier food. There is more variety now available through our main fresh produce supplier, “Fresh Direct”, and each week I check to see if there is something that will compliment the fresh produce that Lindsay and Debbie McGarry supply us. If there is anything that people especially want me to order, let me know and I will see what I can do. I am sure that everybody who buys things from us has, at some stage, bought some of the wonderful lemons, and latterly some of those fabulous Du Comice pears. Last Friday I received a letter from Rob Young and Leone Ward the people responsible for growing that great fruit. In that letter Rob said that they have sold their orchard in Blenheim. Unfortunately the people who have bought the orchard will probably not continue with the Biogro certification. This is sad news because the fruit from that orchard was of the highest standard. We will miss the great fruit and also the great customer service we received from Rob and Leone. We wish Rob and Leone well for their future endeavours. The hunt is now on for a supplier of Organic Lemons. Don’t worry, I will find more lemons. This search is proving more difficult than I thought but I haven’t given up hope yet! Have you noticed all the NZ made non-food items now available in the Centre? I unpacked 2 large orders yesterday and the shelves are now full. What is on the shelves is only a small sample of what is available from NZ companies. Lack of space prevents a larger range of items being displayed. Again if there is something you want that is not on the shelves, let me know and I will see if it is available. I can personally recommend the “Herbal Solutions” Shower Gels. They are also good used as a bubble bath!! I will be stocking more Pitango soups now that the colder months are here. Just look for them in the ‘Fridge. There are some great flavours and they are really good on a cold winters night. WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS If you would like to help out by covering one weekend shift a month, we would love to hear from you. The weekend shifts are from 1:30pm to 4:30pm Saturday and Sunday. Not only are you meeting lots of great people when you volunteer – you are entitled to 10% discount on food items purchased from the co-op. Just contact the Centre and talk to Yvonne, Robyn or Wendy. Keep warm and healthy over winter and we will all look forward to spring. Wendy RIVERTON ESTUARY CARE SOCIETY INC Barberry is a pest plant that has infiltrated our reserve and needs to be destroyed. We have applied for funding to pay for a contractor to do the job and are waiting for that to come through before we set him onto it. The destruction of plants like barberry, gorse and broom presents us with a dilemma with some of our members and associated groups being averse to using herbicides, especially in an estuarine environment. At our next meeting, we will be debating the issue of sprays and have invited Lindsay McGarry to address the meeting, as he has expressed a strong interest in our policy formation n this issue. Should be a lively meeting. Lindsay has been campaigning long and hard to stop the use of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment and is sure to come to the meeting armed with the latest data and thinking on the subject. While reading through the newsletter put out by the Whaingaroa/Raglan Environment Centre I was intrigued to see an article written about a project that exists on a site similar to our own wetland reserve, only in Raglan, where whitebait are being bred and raised in huge numbers with an eye to commercial production. The methods used seem simple enough and involve feeding the fish on a mixture of micro organisms themselves raised on cow manure. The boost to the tiny fish in the early part of their lives reportedly changes significantly the expected 99.5% mortality rate and makes them a viable proposition commercially as well as boosting the populations of ‘wild’ fish which might end up in the nets of recreational whitebait fishers. This idea is one that our Society will be looking into closely soon and may become a direction we could take here in Riverton. BRINGING BACK THE BIRDS If you feed the birds remember, don’t feed them Honey as it spreads bee diseases, or human-food like bread. We will have a new batch of wild bird seed in the Centre this week. Other things wild birds like are fat (dripping), sugar or jam water, halved apples etc. BIRD SURVEY Eric Spurr, LandCare research is asking for interested people to do a bird survey for one hour sometime between the 14th and 22nd of July. The forms can be picked up at the Centre. Tui’s Galore! Warwick McCallum put out a call for assistance with planting trees at the Mores Reserve recently, as he has done before and a very successful morning was enjoyed by the large team that turned out. The volunteers were unexpectedly rewarded for their efforts by an extraordinary display featuring a flock of 18 tui which flew overhead to an unearthly waxy rustle of wings. The sight was a unique one, with so many tui in one air space and all agreed that this was a special event, never before witnessed any of us at least. Great effort Warwick and well done organising those birds! APARIMA NURSERY ENTERPRISE We have had a busy autumn with trees going out as fast as we have brought them in. Most popular were our boxes of a dozen cabbage trees or pittosporums for only $10. It is great to think that because of the efforts of Robert, Marijke and Debbie B. another 4,000 native trees are planted in our area. Now where do we go to get those Carbon Credits?! The pure water rains down on the mountain side and tumbles through the rocky stream bed. The fast water makes it so alive it almost bubbles and it is full of minerals from the rocks. Something to think about... The tramper way up in the mountain scoops it up in his mug. It tastes wonderful and it is good for him. The stream flows on to a river and goes through some towns and farms. The cows are too close to the edge and the water gets muddy and polluted by the cow poo. The people in the town wash their cars and the soapy water goes down the drain and into the river. The children are swimming in the river but it is not safe to swallow any or they will get tummy bugs from the bacteria living in the water. The town council takes the water out of the river and put some chemicals in it to take away the mud, the pooh and the soap. The water is now safe to drink, the bacteria is gone and they pump through pipes to all the houses in the town. But it doesn’t taste nice coming out of the taps, you can still taste and smell the chlorine. People think it would be nice to have clean water again so they use a purifier to take out the chemicals or they collect rain water. Some even get a special purifier that puts the mountain rock minerals back into the water so it is as perfect as a mountain stream. Wouldn’t it be nice if…..like when the dinosaurs were on earth… the river water was clean coming in to our town- just like a mountain stream. Help your community by cleaning up the rivers and streams? Last but not least ! : OUR ENVIROMENT SOCIETY'S 5 YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN Enclosed is a summary compiled by our secretary Geoff from our dynamic autumn workshop where all interested, ‘brain stormed’ or filled in the survey sheet on ‘what we had achieved over the last five years and where to next’. In one sentence: Keep doing all that we have done- diversity of projects, acting locally and positive action! |