Environment Group update
Here’s a wrap on activities that enhanced the Sumner environment over this past winter… follow the link here.
Tau ke!
Backdune maintenance needed this winter
We’ve had two recent working bees to keep weeds under control in the back-dune areas while coastal forest plantings are getting established. Lookout for more work bee dates coming up – many hands make light work! These are especially important now that there’s plenty of moisture around and lupin seedlings are sprouting up. These won’t be a problem in the long run once the natives are established but for now they need to be kept in check before they get too big! Lupins grow much faster than the natives and can easily take over – but are easy to pull out when they’re small.
Thanks to the team who have been on the case so far … drop us an email to environment@sumnercommunity.org.nz to get news of the next working bees or keep an eye on the facebook page http://www.facebook.com/sumnerenvironment
New restoration area
Checkout this pic of the newly restored area thanks to last winter’s big plantout effort. Spinifex is taking off!
7 November Conservation Week event
SUMNER DUNESÂ WORKING BEE
As part of Conservation Week we are having our annual working bee at Sumner Dunes in preparation for the summer. Come and be a part of this great community event to keep our coast healthy and happy!
When: Saturday 7th November at 11am – 1pm
Where: Sumner dunes – meet on the beach outside the Surf Club
What: Mulching all the new plants which have been growing well over the winter. This mainly involves lots of buckets and a few wheelbarrows to move mulch from a central spot.
Bring: The CCC guys will have most of the gear we need but if you have a spare bucket bring it down. The mulch will be coming by trailer and we just have to shift it from there 🙂
Many hands make light work so see you there.
PSÂ .. there’s some mention of free icecreams!
New plants in at Taylors
With help from Taylor Mistake Bach Owners Assoc coastal restoration at the southern end of Taylors is getting underway. We recently put some new plants in ground just in time for spring growth and will soon be working a stream restoration plan for the backdune creek.
Later in the summer we’ll be running a mulching session to look after these new plants and the many other plants we released in the Taylors backdunes earlier in the year. Look out for that!
Dunes Trust conference in Taranaki this March
| Registrations open now for the 2014 Dunes Trust conference in Taranaki. More details below | ||
|
December monitoring
Our December monitoring round confirmed the dunes are in good condition. Overall the previously restored areas are looking good and are currently going through their annual flush of spring grass growth. Previous monitoring has shown that this dies off later in summer and so is seldom a concern for the success of new plantings. However we’ll be targeting the more invasive weeds in the next couple of working bees to make sure the natives have a good chance of getting established before the dry months of summer kick in.
Â
New restoration area looking good
After 2 working bees the new restoration area is now fully planted out with Spinifex and Pingao in the foredune area, and a variety of native shrubs among the lupins. CCC will soon finish the post and rope barrier to complete work in this area for the time being. Over time the lupins in the back dune area will be gradually removed once the natives become established. Work will start on the next restoration area early in 2014 in preparation for more fore-dune planting during the winter months.
Spinifex self-seeding at Sumner Beach
We now know of several self-seeded Spinifex plants on Sumner beach and this is the first time this has happened since Spinifex became extinct in the area. The seed almost certainly came from the previously restored area and shows that Spinifex is really making a comeback and could be soon capable of look after itself! This is important as cycles of beach erosion will often wipe out some parts of the Spinifex habitat, which then naturally re-establish from healthy plants in neighbouring areas.
Taylors storm event
You may have noticed the beach erosion at Taylors during September. This is a typical example of what the sea will do! In the natural cycle the dune area will repair themselves by reinvading the scoured out areas and trapping more sand, which helps build up a new fore-dune.
The native sand binders are now well established at Taylors so it will be interesting to see how effective they are at reversing this storm damage.
Sumner Coastcare Project 