After a decade of caring for the Karamu Stream the St Columba’s Havelock North Environmental House Group is passing the baton on to the Karamu Enhancement Group.
The St Columba’s Group (known as SCHNEHG) started the enhancement of the Karamu Stream as a Millennium Project in 2000 with Hettie and Cyril Park taking the lead.
The handing of the baton will take place as a light-hearted but important ceremony at this evening’s meeting (Tuesday 3 August) of SCHNEHG and the newer Karamu Enhancement Group (KEG).
“It’s a pragmatic thing to pass on the baton as our numbers are down, but we are proud of what we started as it has really taken off and there is a real enthusiasm for the work now,” said Jim Watt of SCHNEHG.
“The project started when the Regional Council had the Karamu channel realigned and cleaned up, removing a jungle of willows. This opened the banks for replanting, and Hettie and Cyril Park stepped up with an offer to help restore the stream bank with native species. A lot of local people, especially school children, got involved too. We took about 100m at a time, as with all the earthworks there was quite a big weed problem, so taking it in stages meant we could keep vegetation back and keep new trees watered through hot summers.”
Mr Watt said that SCHNEHG were fully supportive of passing on the baton as KEG is a younger group with clear ambitions to extend the project down the banks. Some of the SCHNEHG members will keep involved with KEG.
The Karamu Enhancement Group was established in 2008, with the assistance of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, to provide an opportunity for more people to get involved in environmental and planting projects along the Karamu. They have learned a lot from the St Columba’s group about managing new plantings along the stream.
“Without the leadership shown by SCHNEHG, alot of the enhancement work around the Karamu would not have been done, and we would have no firm path to follow. We are keen at KEG to maintain that high interest in local people volunteering to work with the Councils to enhance this river,” said Drew Broadley of the Karamu Enhancement Group.
KEG has regular meetings to plan planting days, and anyone can join.
Other groups are also now working on improving sections of the Karamu inspired by the initial efforts of the St Columba’s team. Kohupatiki Marae and some businesses that are alongside the stream have done planting and Ruahapia Marae is developing a planting plan now. |