Planting event welcomes rainbow community
19 August 2020
Christchurch’s rainbow community will have the chance to go green at a volunteer planting event that's a first for the city.
Members of the LGBTQIA+ community worked alongside Christchurch City Council park rangers at Plant with Pride. (external link)
Read more on Newsline(external link)
Hundreds turn out to recreate healthy habitats
Ciara Foley, a member of Students Strike for Climate Change
26 July 2020
Hundreds of volunteers planted more than 2000 native seedlings across Christchurch this weekend.
About 500 trees went in the ground along the Styx River in north Christchurch, 1800 were planted in the city’s red zone and more went into Halswell Quarry.
Read more on Stuff online(external link)
Family-focused Matariki huge success
20 July 2020
With the rising of Matariki falling within school holidays and Kidfest this year, a family-focused programme of planting events saw record numbers taking part.
Starting with the annual dawn planting at the Rongoa garden, Styx, 20 people including young tamariki got stuck into planting trees in the dark, despite the frosty conditions. A fire-side breakfast and korero warmed everyone up before the sun and 40 more volunteers arrived for the family planting event.
Another event the following week at West Broken Run, Wigram saw lots more families planting in celebration of Matariki. Some sharp-eyed young planters spotted a skink scurrying away as they dug - a great find! Some of our hidden biodiversity in an urban park.
Volunteering a great way to learn about environment
23 June 2020
Watching wetland birds on a crisp Saturday morning is a rewarding way to start the day for 10-year-old Willow. She is the Styx Purakaunu Living Laboratory Trust(external link)’s youngest volunteer and one of about a dozen people who meet on the first Saturday of each month to record bird numbers and their species. Read more on Newsline(external link)
Rediscovering what makes you feel good
15 June 2020
The All Right team have done an amazing job of providing us with cheery tips and resources to keep our spirits up throughout the past few months. Volunteering in parks is the perfect way to fit the ‘five ways to wellbeing’ into your life.
- Connect – with your community by joining a working bee in a park near you.
- Be active – with some light digging work.
- Take notice – of your hands in the soil.
- Keep learning – soak up some park ranger knowledge.
- Give – your time and your mahi to make our parks a better place.
We look forward to seeing you all for winter planting.
Planting picks up after lockdown
9 June 2020
Parks volunteers were out in force during Level two, with the easing of restrictions well-timed to acknowledge Arbor Day - an international celebration of trees.
At least 10 events and over 400 volunteers took place in parks all over Christchurch city on and around Arbor Day, to plant trees and give thanks for the vital role that trees play in our everyday lives.
Organisers of Eco-Action Nursery Trust's first event for 2020, at QEII, were blown away with the attendance; which saw 1500 plants grown by students planted out into the park in just over an hour.
Read more on Newsline(external link)
Volunteering under Covid-19
28 April 2020
We're following the Government's advice and cancelling or postponing any upcoming volunteer events under Level 3. You can still get out and about and enjoy many of our parks – please practice social distancing if visiting.
What volunteering will look like under Level 2 is still being confirmed but we hope we can launch back into action. To ensure we stay within the Level 2 guidelines, volunteers will most likely need to pre-register their attendance before volunteering events.
