Friday 15 December, 2023
In late August the Catchments and Biodiversity team undertook a small planting project on the Waimata Riverbank at Stafford Street. The site is a small parcel of GDC land which has been largely ignored for many years, having become over-run with long grass and weeds.
Following an intensive weed control programme, a mixture of 500 indigenous plants including karamu, koromiko, harakeke (flax) and sedge grasses were planted by staff in the first phase of a longer-term project known as the “Waimata Gateway Planting”. A further 500 plants are planned to be added to the site next year.
Under the new National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity (NPS-IB), which came into effect on 4th August 2023, Councils will be required to set a target of achieving at least 10% indigenous vegetation cover for any urban or non-urban environment. A recent report* commissioned by GDC on the current state of vegetation cover in the Gisborne urban area found that we are currently sitting on around 2.3% indigenous vegetated area, so there is plenty of work to do!
Although small in scale, this project will help towards achieving these goals, as well as complementing the work being done by the wider Waimata Catchment Group.
*Gisborne City Urban Biodiversity Action Plan- Overview report- 2022
