Embedded Files
Wilding pines student army
Wilding pines student army
Queenstown is the tourist mecca of New Zealand and is famous for its pristine environment. Thousands flock to jump off the bridges, ride the jetboats and dine in the restaurants, however, many are unaware of the fight going on behind the scenes. Wilding Conifers are an invasive species of plant that is overrunning the natural environment and placing our local glacial landscapes and tussock views under threat. The local council and various other groups are working towards eradicating this species in an attempt to encourage the growth of our native species back into these areas. Queenstown Primary School is committed to this cause and is playing its part in protecting our local environment.
Since 2017 we annually mobilise students every year to descend on our local ‘Adopt a Plot’ site on Ben Lomond and pull our Wilding Pine seedlings. Armed with gardening gloves and loppers to hand clear and maintain our plot we predict we have pulled 10,000 fledging seedlings annually off the hills in and around our site.
Our work has been formally recognised with Ecosystem Restoration Project grant to objectively monitor vegetation change over time and raise awareness that the work we are doing in our local environment is making a difference.
Click to open Wilding Pines Project report 2019
We worked with the Department of conservation to establish a Photopoint site at our adopt a plot site with the Wilding Conifer Control Group. Alice from Doc was most helpful in training up our students on how to scientifically photograph and record the site data as per the photographic point procedures.
Every year we spread across the whole hill to maintain and support our neighbouring plots. The number of seedlings has dropped over time... we feel that we are making progress.
In the early days of our restoration project snow never stopped us from heading up to our site. Here students were doing square meter observations to understand how many seedlings were growing on a designated piece of our site.
At times the terrain that we are working on is steep. We also show resilience and the big trees don't scare us!
ripping out
ripping out
wilding pines
snack time
snack time
must be hungry
ready for war!
ready for war!
with wilding pines
attacking wilding pines
attacking wilding pines
day 1
where to go to find our work
where to go to find our work
a sign underneath another sign
Page updated
Report abuse