Riparian Planting Project - Phase 2

In Week 3 of Term 4, ten Year 8 students were lucky enough to travel out to the Taieri Plains to take part in a riparian planting project. This was Phase 2 of a long-term project which was started by a group of Year 8 students in 2018.

The project is a joint initiative between Tahuna and Taieri dairy farmer Matt Kerr. The work was supported this year by a very generous donation from the Tahuna Student Council which enabled the purchase of some eighty native plants. For the second year running we received great support from Blueskin Nurseries who more than exceeded our expectations with the fantastic plants they were able to supply.

Riparian planting aims to improve the quality of our waterways through the establishment of native plants along their banks. Last year, we planted around 100 natives and earlier this year a small group of students travelled out with Mr. Scoles to monitor how they were doing. The vast majority had survived and we were able to gain valuable knowledge about which natives are best suited to this area.

In Week 3, this year’s group of students (who had all been selected by their classroom teachers after showing a strong interest during our Year 8 sustainability unit) built on last year’s good work. They worked hard to plant a diverse range of natives along a stretch of the bank which Matt and his team had cleared. It was great to see that since our trip last year Matt had also planted a substantial number of new natives on the same riverbank.

We are excited to be able to build on this work in the coming years and are really pleased to be able to give Tahuna students a hands-on experience as well as an insight into how our farmers can work the land in a sustainable way.