School project produces mini forest on clifftop

Plant posse… Year 12 students (from left) Sascha Letica, Kathryn Reid, Eve Couwenberg and Monique Jermy at their pocket forest near the George Gair Lookout

A ‘pocket forest’ of native trees has been planted by Takapuna Grammar School (TGS) students as a school project they hope will endure for decades.

Sascha Letica, Monique Jermy, Kathryn Reid and Eve Couwenberg came up with the idea for the forest near George Gair Lookout in collaboration with Restoring Takarunga Hauraki (RTH) community coordinator, Lance Cablk.

The students worked on the design, sourced the plants and recruited extra hands to help with the planting.

Kathryn said the forest was designed in a way that meant it wouldn’t obstruct the view at the lookout and that the cliff would be strengthened by the roots of the plants.

The biggest plants are at the back of the site to allow the smaller ones to get enough sunshine and protect vulnerable plants from wind damage.

The forest will need regular maintenance, including weeding and watering, for the next three years.

Among more than 10 species planted are kōwhai, manuka, harakeke and pūriri.

The group is happy their project provides something for future generations to enjoy.

Their work on the forest was an element of the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum that requires students to complete self-driven projects involving creativity, activity and service (CAS).

The forest was officially opened at a recent school CAS day, along with other community-service projects.

The school’s head of IB, Maria Blanco, told the Flagstaff CAS was about “addressing issues of global significance at a local level”.

Many other groups decided to work with RTH for their projects, after science teacher and CAS coordinator James Lawton invited the group to speak at the school before the projects began.

Other projects included students making a park bench that will be placed at the Wakakura Reserve, in Mary Barrett Glade; an in-class irrigation system to grow plants for science lessons; and installing a rat-trapping line in the Philomel Reserve, Bayswater.

Ferry staff numbers still too thin for normal services

Ferry crew shortages are easing, but normal services for Devonport and Bayswater are still some way off, says North Shore ward Auckland councillor Chris Darby.

“I wouldn’t see us going back to a 20-minute service any time soon, but we’re aiming for it,” Darby said.

Instead of being 45 crew down, as it was before Christmas, operator Fullers was 24 short as of last Monday, in need of 14 skippers and 10 deckhands. Skippers typically take a year to train.

“We’re not there yet. We’ve still got a long way go to until we’re covered,” Darby acknowledged in a briefing to the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board last week.

The remark came just a day before another round of the peak-hour ferry cancellations that regularly frustrate commuters.

Darby said he and fellow North Shore councillor Richard Hills had lobbied the government on immigration settings, which had helped Fullers in its recruitment overseas. They were keeping a close handle on ferry operational issues, “but it’s an enormous daily challenge”.

Capacity was an issue on the Devonport run, but bigger ferries were not always available, he said.

Crew cover wasn’t sufficient to free up staff for training in how to operate the larger vessels.

As more staff arrived, the expectation was for a more reliable service and to build weekday patronage.

More ferry use was being seen at weekends, Darby said, with passenger numbers up 25 per cent on the Devonport and Waiheke runs compared with pre-Covid figures.