Why did the Pukeko cross the road?

This day of restoration began with a talk from Antony Shadbolt, a Landscape Architect and Ecologist for the Christchurch City Council. He first spoke to us about the Styx River Reserve #2, soon to be the Dense Kahakatea Forest Reserve. This reserve is part of the city’s plan to create patches of natural land that connect larger natural areas like Travis Wetland and Riccarton Bush. This area was once a wetland that was drained by Europeans colonizers for agricultural purposes, which ultimately led to highly polluted waters. This situation can be compared to the drainage of the Florida Everglades. Drainage of these wetlands has had a large, negative impact on wildlife biodiversity.

Antony gave us a tour of the reserve and explained the plans for this land. The non-native trees on the reserve were drilled with poison to create a soft and tall structure for birds and other cavity nesting creatures. These trees were banded with sheet metal to prevent disturbances from possums.

Metal bands around trees to prevent possums from climbing.

We then came to the Ka Putahi Creek, one of the most polluted waterways in Christchurch. Along the creek, sedimentation ponds are being constructed to slow down water flow and allow and solid pollutants to settle. The creek was also serpentine to allow for more diversity along the bank.

The Ka Puhati creek is one of the most polluted in Christchurch.

Today we helped restore natural areas around this creek. The first site we visited butted up against the river. The plants must have been left out overnight because they were all frozen solid and nearly impossible to remove from their pots. So, we moved on to the next site…

This site was at a portion of the creek that was sandwiched between a motorway under construction and farmland. This farmland is eventually to be developed for homes, allowing for the residents to have nature right outside their doors. As we drove down to the river, the local cows thought we were there to feed them and raced us to the end of their pasture. This was a pleasant distraction until their farmer actually came to feed them and they ran away.

The nice cows that chased us.

We continued, and Antony explained more about the ecology of the river and how this was the biggest waterway realignment undertaken in Christchurch before we moved on to our third site of the day.

At our third site, we met Haymish who was with Conservation Volunteers New Zealand. He is married to Sophie who we have worked with with the Banks Peninsula Trust. We planted roughly 260 plants to contribute to the Kahakatea forest being planted there. We spent hours digging holes and listening to music. It was at this site that we encountered the Pukekos… Their melodic screaming was music to our bleeding ears.

Kahakatea forest planting.

When we finished at the third site, the sun was going down, but we weren’t quite finished. We returned to the first site to check on our defrosted plants and finished our jobs there.

We ended our day with a stop at Coffee Culture for our late afternoon tea. On the way there we encountered a Pukeko crossing the road, and thus my favorite joke was born:

Kat: Why did the Pukeko cross the road?

Eliza: To scream at its’ friends.

Now, we are all preparing to head out for our free weekend!

-Bailey