Autumn and winter planting completed

All the Autumn/Winter planting projects have now been completed for 2022. To date this year, we have planted 11,000 natives across 14 project sites.

The high rainfall that Canterbury experienced throughout July has led to higher than usual river levels which has unfortunately impacted several of the newly planted sites. Many plants at project sites along Harts Creek and Birdlings Brook were completely inundated so debris had to be cleared from around the plantings once river levels dropped to prevent losses.

Thankfully most of the plants have bounced back now that the water level has dropped.

A couple of sites along the Irwell River are still at threat as the river remains much higher than usual. It is hoped that the current drier weather continues for a few more weeks, which hopefully means water levels will drop and allow plants to establish.

Project coordinator Johanna Blakely has now finalised the spring planting projects and planting will commence in early October.

There are three project sites planned for the spring planting period, but these sites are significant, lining a total of 1.0 km of waterways with 2,900 plants.

Ten ESAI members have expressed an interest in having planting projects on their properties for the final year of the project.

Funding for the final year is significantly less than the previous two years and so there are plans to explore other grants and funding streams to cover plant costs and stretch the budget as far as possible.