The transformation over 18 years
As you will see in the following pages we have made some significant progress with our aim to restore Selwyn Bush. When the Pourewa Restoration Group started restoring Selwyn Bush in 2006 weeds made up around 50% of the bush. This has now been reduced down to about 10% weeds and we aim to keep on driving this down to as low as we can go. Of course it is a constant battle and if we stopped now weeds would take off again very quickly.
The stadium slopes
The slopes by the stadium and stadium carpark were the first areas the Pourewa Restoration group worked on. These areas were saturated with weeds such as woolly nightshade, ginger, privet and tradescantia and other noxious weeds. They were also covered in rubbish. Unfortunately before the school put the fence up by the carpark public used to dump their rubbish directly into the bush including even big things like tires, stoves, vacuums cleaners and even a whole Mini (car) - see below.
The other significant weed are the large poplar trees. There were around 25 large trees when we first started but the numbers have reduced due to them getting old and starting to rot at the base and falling down during storms. The poplars have had some benefit in terms of adding a good amount of leafletter underneath and also providing some shelter for small seedlings during the summer months but in the end they do inhibit growth of the larger native plants so happy to see them reduce in numbers.
To view the progress we have made so far please clock on the centre of the slider to scroll back and forth as shown below.
Above, view from the stadium looking down towards the carpark. This was one of the first areas we worked on and also had the most amount of weeds. Most significant was woolly nightshade which was very quickly taking over the canopy. Now the majority of what you see are thriving native trees.
View from the stadium looking south showing the full range of weeds from detura to woolly nightshade. Now we have a wonderfull wall of kanuka as the entry to the haven of Selwyn Bush
View from the stadium looking west. Many of the poplars you see in the early image have come down in storms and the native understory has been allowed to thrive through removing the majority of weeds
A view of an upper area of the main track. The early photo was taken in 2011 after a large amount of clearing of weeds in this area. Note the use of timber from fallen poplar trees used as stepping stones. This area was very slippery during winter and we are very lucky to have a volunteer (Derek Ashcroft) who is a marvel at track maintenance and keeping the tracks safe for our volunteers.
A view of the "Mini slope". This area was covered in some of our more invasive weeds: nasturtium, woolly nightshade and wild ginger. Unfortunately this area was used as a rubbish dump by the public due to it being next to the carpark and this only stopped when the school built a fence through this area. It is called the mini slope due to the largest item of rubbish being an old mini - see image below.
An early view of the "Mini slope" showing the Mini-Minor almost intact and the mass of weeds including nasturtium, convolvulus and ginger. Now the only thing left of the Mini is the engine block.