Herald Island Environmental Group (HIEG), previously known as Keep Herald Island Beautiful, has been working mostly on public land since 1995 to control environmental plant pests and replace them with local native plants.
In 2016 their work extended to include the control of animal pests, starting with rats. One of their aims is to enhance the Herald Island section of the North-West Wildlink, making Herald Island a safe stopping off point for birds traversing this corridor through the Upper Waitemāta Harbour. Gecko began working with HIEG in winter 2016 to help them develop a ‘whole of community’ approach by extending their work to private land also.
In addition to a long history of organising community weeding and planting bees, they look forward to soon being able to engage residents on private land in animal/plant pest control and revegetation, and offering residents the use of rat traps and pesticides.
After years of only using native plants grown on the island or in nearby areas (such as Kaipātiki Trust’s nursery at Hobsonville Point) they now have a small second hand glasshouse that they are refurbishing as a shadehouse to enable the sustainable and cost effective provision of natives. The community nursery also serves as a means to engage a wider pool of people and highlight the resource they aim to protect. Locally sourced and grown native plants from the community nursery will be available for revegetation in the next two years.
For more details about our relationship see:
Contact Jan Diprose if you’d like to get involved: jjdiprose@clear.net.nz
With support and funding from Upper Harbour Local Board and the Upper Harbour Ecology Network
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