Rai Valley Area School teams up for native planting

Schoolchildren from Rai Valley Area School dug in their spades on a recent Friday to plant 200 native seedlings at Rai Stream Reserve. The plants were provided by Te Hoiere Project with enthusiastic labour provided by the schoolchildren and a few volunteers from the Project and Forest & Bird.

The children planted faster than expected and to a very high standard, said Sarah Huntley, Te Hoiere Project Education Coordinator. Sarah works with schoolchildren throughout the catchment to learn about the ecological and cultural significance of flora and fauna found in freshwater environments.

“In previous learning, I had emphasised that threatened species kanakana (lamprey) and kākahi (freshwater mussels) were found in that stream with eDNA testing. A special part of the day was finding a kākahi shell while we were planting,” Sarah said.

For Ngāti Kuia, tangata whenua of Te Hoiere, kākahi are a tohu indicator for the mauri and health of Te Hoiere's waterways. For ecologists, the presence of juvenile mussels is especially important because young mussels are more vulnerable to contaminants and require a healthy environment that won’t clog their gills.

The Rai Stream Reserve, located on Bryants Road off State Highway 6, is just downstream from the Bryant farm where kākahi have also been found in recent years. The reserve is also the site of a previous community planting and educational area for schoolchildren to learn about stream health.

Below, schoolchildren planted 200 native seedlings at Rai Stream Reserve as part of an educational programme supported by Te Hoiere Project.