Newsletter


 * Newsletter **

 



What an amazing day we had last Saturday. It really shows what amazing things we can do when we all pitch in together! In total we planted 700 native plants and over 20 more native trees. Everyone who attended this day realised we were doing something much bigger than just planting gardens. By restoring our indigenous habitats we are helping to create a future that includes the unique features about New Zealand that don’t exist anywhere else in the world. Sylvia Park School now has five indigenous forests and almost 60 native trees. The forests are listed below. 1. Manuka-kanuka shrubland (on the east facing bank of the field) 2. Wet Lowland Forest (beside room 2 and along the fence line at the very back of the field) 3. Lowland Broad Leaf Forest (behind room 19 and 20) 4. Mt Wellington Rock Forest (on the east facing bank of the field closest to room 20)

While each indigenous forest has a botanical name our students will come up with a ‘school’ name for each of the forests. We were very lucky to have generous support from a large sector of our community in particular we would like to thank Dr Tim Martin for all of his input into this project, Treefellas for their contribution of mulch and free delivery, Recreation Services for the use of their bobcat and their bobcat driver, Hirepool for their reduced hire rates for wheelbarrows and spades, and to the Auckland Regional Council who provided not only tools but other personnel and expertise. A special thanks must also go to Peter Lehmann and Levy Roberts who did an enormous amount of behind the scenes work that ensured the days success. And last but not least it is important to thank you, our community, for all of the great support we had to plant our forests. It would not have happened without you! This is only the first stage of developing a community resource for everyone to enjoy and learn from—just watch this space!

The Rainforest Express... <span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 113%; font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-default-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-latin-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-latinext-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB;"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Calibri; mso-default-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-latin-font-family: Calibri; mso-greek-font-family: Calibri; mso-cyrillic-font-family: Calibri; mso-armenian-font-family: Calibri; mso-hebrew-font-family: Calibri; mso-latinext-font-family: Calibri; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB; mso-currency-font-family: Calibri;">Have you ever wondered who looks after our native forests and makes sure that the water we drink is safe? On Thursday the 4 <span style="font-size: 6.659pt; font-family: Calibri; mso-default-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-latin-font-family: Calibri; mso-greek-font-family: Calibri; mso-cyrillic-font-family: Calibri; mso-armenian-font-family: Calibri; mso-hebrew-font-family: Calibri; mso-latinext-font-family: Calibri; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB; mso-currency-font-family: Calibri;">th <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Calibri; mso-default-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-latin-font-family: Calibri; mso-greek-font-family: Calibri; mso-cyrillic-font-family: Calibri; mso-armenian-font-family: Calibri; mso-hebrew-font-family: Calibri; mso-latinext-font-family: Calibri; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB; mso-currency-font-family: Calibri;"> of June room 18 and 16 students travelled all the way to the Waitakere Ranges to learn how to sustain our natural resources so that it is there for the generations to come. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Calibri; mso-default-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-latin-font-family: Calibri; mso-greek-font-family: Calibri; mso-cyrillic-font-family: Calibri; mso-armenian-font-family: Calibri; mso-hebrew-font-family: Calibri; mso-latinext-font-family: Calibri; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB; mso-currency-font-family: Calibri;">The students were very lucky to get the chance to travel to a place where they could learn about the environment. It was a chilly day but still sunny enough to have a good, relaxing ride on a small yet speedy train which accelerated towards the dam and native forests. As we rushed past the native plants we heard a voice coming from a speaker above. It was David our guide. He explained to us how our native forests are looked after and how it can be sustained. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Calibri; mso-default-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-latin-font-family: Calibri; mso-greek-font-family: Calibri; mso-cyrillic-font-family: Calibri; mso-armenian-font-family: Calibri; mso-hebrew-font-family: Calibri; mso-latinext-font-family: Calibri; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB; mso-currency-font-family: Calibri;">We also found out the benefits of having native forests. Native forests provide a home for our native birds and animals. Tui birds are particularly attracted to our Native Kowhai tree. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Calibri; mso-default-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-latin-font-family: Calibri; mso-greek-font-family: Calibri; mso-cyrillic-font-family: Calibri; mso-armenian-font-family: Calibri; mso-hebrew-font-family: Calibri; mso-latinext-font-family: Calibri; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB; mso-currency-font-family: Calibri;">As we moved along David told us that Kauri snails eat Meat, slugs, insects and normal snails. Later we walked over to the dam and David talked to us about how the dam is twenty times smaller than the normal dams. We also discovered that the water we drink comes from the Hunua Dam. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Calibri; mso-default-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-latin-font-family: Calibri; mso-greek-font-family: Calibri; mso-cyrillic-font-family: Calibri; mso-armenian-font-family: Calibri; mso-hebrew-font-family: Calibri; mso-latinext-font-family: Calibri; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB; mso-currency-font-family: Calibri;">It was an amazing experience learning how our native forest should be looked after and how we should conserve our water. We hope the native forests stay healthy and provide shelter to our wild life so that others can enjoy them from generation to generation. <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-default-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-latin-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-latinext-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB;">  <span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 7pt; font-style: italic; font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-default-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-ascii-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-latin-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; mso-latinext-font-family: 'Antique Olive'; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB;">Story by Lita, Amelia and Jean Rm 18 <span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 8pt; font-style: italic; font-family: Calibri; mso-default-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-latin-font-family: Calibri; mso-greek-font-family: Calibri; mso-cyrillic-font-family: Calibri; mso-armenian-font-family: Calibri; mso-hebrew-font-family: Calibri; mso-latinext-font-family: Calibri; language: en-GB; mso-ansi-language: en-GB; mso-currency-font-family: Calibri;">

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