Delaware Spit dune planting and beach clean up, 16 July 2011
- Alison Arron
To the east of Nelson, near Cable Bay, lies the Delaware Spit. Several years ago the Spit was identified as a site of high environmental value by the Nelson City Council. This initial recognition lead to Lynne Hall, Land Management Adviser with the Nelson City Council, initiating a dune restoration project using funding from the Biodiversity Condition Fund. Lynne has a three year planting programme planned for Delaware Spit in the hope of slowing down dune degradation from sea and wind erosion. A conversation between Lynne and Forest and Bird committee member, Julie McKlintock, sparked the idea of combining dune planting with a beach clean up and Forest and Bird members being involved.
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Rubbish collected
Amongst the 37 people who turned out on 16 June 2011, was a family of three who have iwi connections to the area and 10 non members (attracted by newspaper reports) wishing to take advantage of the opportunity to go to an area which is not often accessible to the public by road. Groups of 10 at a time undertook planting on the Spit, alternating with those walking the beach picking up rubbish. Within a few hours, the rubbish collected filled the back of a ute and a trailer, most of it being plastic, and estimated as weighing close to a ton.
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Dune restoratiion planting
850 plants (NZ Pingao, Spinifex and Coprosma acerosa) were planted on Saturday and Lynne hopes to double this number in 2012. Once native species have gained a foothold, she says, the ice plant and marram grass, which currently invade the dunes, will be weeded out. Lynne says that whilst these exotic species are better than no ground cover at all, they tend to encourage the growth of steep dunes, which are then unstable in highly erosive conditions, such as those existing on this spit.
Delaware Spit has a lot to recommend it to volunteers as a day out in mid winter: its environmental value, scenic value, and historical significance. The children who came were well entertained by finding interesting things on the beach, such as an array of animal bones, fish skeletons, crab shells, kina, scallop, oyster and other shells, star fish body parts and dead birds (including Broad-billed Prions, washed up from the storm the previous week). Near the end of the Spit is a shag colony. The shags have established their nests in trees overhanging a tidal inlet behind the Spit, and to the envy of many of us un-feathered two leggeds, have million dollar views. Next door to the shags is an urupa (Maori burial site). Grave stones are dated from 1880 to 1987 and include the graves of Huria and Hemi Matenga, famous for their dramatic rescue of the crew of the Delaware in 1863 (see http://www.theprow.org.nz/maori-rescues/ for more information).
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Planting team
Lynne extends her thanks to Forest and Bird members, especially to Julie McKlintock, for her excellent coordination. Lynne says she was delighted with the turnout and grateful for the fantastic effort by Forest and Bird. Lynne later reported: “I received a card today from Nick Smith, thanking us all for the work done at Delaware Spit and stating that: ‘The conservation work you have all achieved is tremendous’.”
The day could not have been more beautiful; sunny, windless, brilliantly blue, and warm enough to strip down to a t-shirt once the morning cloud lifted. Thanks go again to Julie for organising a near perfect event for members and a valuable contribution to a restoration project in a special place.
