Greening Taupō Day 2023
Greening Taupō Day has fast become more than just an Arbor Day planting event. It has blossomed into a festival of Environmental Education for the region and a day of celebration that the whole community engages in. Every school and numerous kindergartens take on environmental projects during the week and hold a ‘dress in green’ fundraising day.
See what schools and ECE Centres got up to here
Another fantastic art competition took place for all local schools, thanks to Huka Honey Hive, Donovan Bixley, and Quality Print Ltd.
Read more about the Art Competition Here
The Arbor Day event this year started with an unexpected downpour of rain which had the thousand people in attendance ducking for cover and our coordinators huddled under an umbrella with the mayor trying to get the microphone to work. Our plans for a big opening kōrero and planting demonstration abruptly changed. We quickly said a few words then declared the day open. Many attendees chose to brave the elements to plant, and the 3000 trees were planted in an hour. These were added to the 4500 trees planted at last year's event to become the beginnings of a native forest.
Robyn from Greening Taupō did a fantastic job of organising the planting aspect of the day. Trees that Count and funds raised at last year’s event funded the trees, Mynoke generously donated vermicast, Taupō District Council (TDC) and the Department of Conservation (DOC) did the site preparation, Wicked Weeder volunteers and students from Taupō Intermediate unloaded the plants and put them, along with vermicast and fertiliser, in all of the holes ready for the day.
Over 40 local businesses and organisations had stands onsite with activities for the children. Most of them had an environmental education message. Participants could learn about native bats from DOC, build a trap with Forest and Bird, investigate freshwater macroinvertebrates with the Tongariro Trout Centre, shoot predators using nerf guns with Contact Energy, find out about bird banding with Maungatautari Sanctuary Mountain, dissect owl pellets with Wingspan, guess the native plant species with Ngaroma Nurseries, hunt for worms like a kiwi with Save the Kiwi, learn about native bees with Huka Honey Hive, repurpose old books with Taupō library, play a recycling game with TDC, and take part in a wetland experiment or see the kauri dieback model with Waikato Regional Council. There was bug hunting, fungi on display, bush tea tasting, and obstacle courses. Children could ride bikes on the new pump track with Kids Bike Taupō or have a go with a frisbee thanks to Taupō Disc Golf. There were fire engines and police cars to check out, and face painting for kids. Local author/illustrator Donovan Bixley painted a beautiful karearea and signed books. These were just some of the fun activities offered.
The food served on the day was a massive collaborative effort. In order to be more sustainable, Epro sent an employee to hunt wild deer, resulting in 500 donated venison sausages. DOC contributed another 400 sausages and Trev Terry Marine not only provided another 500 sausages, but also supplied the gear and staff to cook them all. Countdown Taupō donated bread, sauces and buns. Those buns were served alongside soup made by The Bistro, with rescued vegetables from Misfit Garden, whose staff were also there handing out free fruit to children. Biodegradable cups donated by Mynoke for the soup could be taken to the Mitre 10 MEGA stand and used to pot up a plant to take home.
Overall, in spite of the weather, a fantastic day was had by all involved. It is pretty special to see so many people from our community come together to make our local environment better for biodiversity and to celebrate local conservation. It is a one-of-a-kind community event that we are incredibly proud of.
