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NZ Assn. for Environmental Education, ChCh Branch:
Issue No: 5

Issue No:5


Fri 4 July, 2008

Welcome

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Remember to keep sending us info to promote your environmental events and causes. Also to pass on news of ecoNet to others you think may find it interesting/useful.

Here follows a selection of news and articles of interest from around and about, and here and there, eg:

from here

A Reminder: Forest and Bird's talk this week (see events diary) -
MainPower has applied for consent to build a windfarm along the ridge of Mt Cass (seaward side of Waipara) - Canterbury's premium and most valuable limestone landscape by a country mile.
The proposal includes major earthworks (estimated 365,000 cubic metres), 95,000 cubic metres of concrete and a heavy traffic roadway along the ridge-line which would cut through the heart of the region's remnant and often rare native vegetation.
Limestone landscapes have been decreed of national importance and in NZ's top four most highly rated for protection.

...there's more (including pictures of Mt Cass) at The Mt Cass Ridge Protection Society: aridgetoofar.org

To see what Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board has to say see here.
For further information for making a submission check out Hurunui.govt.nz/Services/Planning/MtCass and keep an eye out for postings at aridgetoofar.org.
Submissions on the proposal close 1 August.


A new Board of Trustees member wanted at Strickland St Community Garden: the Garden is a charitable trust dedicated to keeping alive the formerly universal kiwi tradition of home gardening while also fostering neighbourhood and community development.
Numbers in contact with the garden through a year - by way of volunteer gardeners, those on work experience, work support, market day helpers, attendees at workshops, school visits, and so on - are in excess of 2000. It really is a community. Enquiries to Christine Blance, ssgardens@paradise.net.nz   Ph. 942 6630.


Otamahua/Quail Island Ecological Restoration Trust Tree Planting: The Trust plans to plant over 7,000 native trees and shrubs during the ten week-end days of August. (see events diary). The young trees go into previously sprayed pasture grasses each with a collar of carpet to restrain regrowth. 
They want parties of 30 - 35 reasonably vigorous volunteers for each day’s planting.  (9.10 am start at the Blackcat ferry wharf - ie free transport to the island courtesy of Blackcat Cruises Ltd).
New volunteers very welcome but need to book in well ahead. To register as a club group or as an individul contact Bev or Ian MacDonald at ihmacd@paradise.net.nz or ph 3325322. For further info - and for the naturally curious - have a look at: http://www.quailisland.org.nz/ It's really good - history, maps, ecology, lizards etc.

ECan versus CCC: little birdies in the nest agree, right? ...wrong! On the one hand (ECan) and on the other (CCC - & Federated Farmers). Who's gonna pay for sparring over the landscape values of Banks Peninsula?

Heritage grant: for the only remaining building of its era and type in New Zealand: Riccarton Racecourse Tea House. (27 June, CCC)

Wide gap between NZ's rich and poor: Aranui, Linwood, Phillipstown and Waltham are in the poorest 10 per cent of Christchurch , while Cashmere, Holmwood, Deans Bush, Mount Pleasant, Moncks Bay, Governors Bay and Rolleston are among the richest...etc. (2 July, Stuff).

Mid-winter blues getting you down? Thinking of popping over to the Pacific Islands for a break?... consider not only the impact a trip will have on your bank balance, but also the environmental impact it will have on your destination. more here (30 June, sustainability.govt.nz).

The State of Organics 2008: interesting stats. on organic producing, selling and buying in New Zealand here, and some observations of UK trends here. (from OrganicPathways, June 2008).

NZ’s largest coffee chain switches to Fairtrade see here (10 June, Oxfam NZ)

NZ eco-website (Celsias) builds global following to fight climate change (from Stuff, 3 July).

Another inconvenient truth... Biofuels: only if we avoid burning food ( 25 June, Oxfam NZ)

Waiheke Island’s transition to sustainable solutions: soon to be the envy of everyone’s environmental eye. see here (3 July, sustainability.govt.nz).

At Hukanui Primary School (Hamilton) Pupils design their own eco-classroom (from ecoclassroomnz.com).

The Ellerslie International Flower Show will annually gift an award-winning exhibition garden to Christchurch Botanic Gardens see here. Surely there's a more appropriate site tho... what about in and around the Square? (CCC, 29 June).

Success at saving skinks...a great example of collaboration between agencies and individuals, involving Wellington Zoo, DOC and private breeders (the Beehive, July 1).

Dolphins, Coastal Policy, pest eradication... NZ and Chile to collaborate on conservation issues (27 June, DOC)

Whales: NZ hopeful for future of IWC (30 June, DOC)

Canterbury Resource Management Awards 2008: info here

Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board wants nominations for its conservation award, Te Waka o Aoraki, awarded annually (to a group or an individual) to recognise and encourage conservation efforts and achievements in Canterbury. Nominations close Friday, 18 July. ... more

2009 Sir Peter Blake Environmental Educator Award: Applications close July 11.

Call for submissions: four proposed Marine Mammal Sanctuaries see here Till July 27. Part of the Hector’s and Maui’s Dolphin Threat Management Plan, designed by DOC and the Ministry of Fisheries to achieve the best possible outcome for the endangered dolphins.

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Diary of Events


Coming Up: