Piha resident Dr Jill Poulston is systematically weeding in the bush near her home, supported by family, friends and a Love Your Neighbourhood grant from Waitākere Ranges Local Board.
The grant has helped buy equipment but it also showed Dr Poulston she wasn’t wasting her time.
“What really mattered to me was the fact that someone thought what I was doing was important. That endorsement showed me the local board does care and will support people doing this work.”
In early 2020 Dr Poulston noticed a few jasmine flowers in the bush and set off, secateurs in hand, to deal with this invasive weed. As she followed its trail, she realised it would need more than one quick snip.
So she marked out an area of bush, and for the last two years has been visiting regularly to tackle one patch at a time, removing jasmine, ginger, agapanthus, honeysuckle and more.
“I’ve got to know every inch of the bush, literally,” says Dr Poulston.
“I remember working around a small kawakawa that was being throttled by jasmine and seeing it three times higher a year later.”
“The bush is beautiful, but we need more people who care about it. Weeds like this will not go away by themselves, we have to remove them if we want our bush back,” says Dr Poulston.
Delighted to help
Waitakere Ranges Local Board Chair, Saffron Toms, says that the board is delighted to be able to help.
“We have a finite amount of resource, so it's really great to be able to enable people to enhance our natural environment,” she says.
“The grants are easy to apply for and as we have seen, can help to make a huge difference. These stories are wonderful to hear. Keep up the good work.”
EcoMatters Environment Trust administers Love Your Neighbourhood grants for local environmental projects in the Henderson-Massey, Whau, Waitākere Ranges or Maungakiekie-Tāmaki local board areas. Find out more at ecomatters.org.nz/loveyourneighbourhood
