Autumn Newsletter

The rain last week, although perhaps not welcomed by Park walkers and bikers, is much needed to help prepare the ground for our planting this winter.

In this edition we share our plans for planting this season, update on our Protect the Peak campaign, share news from our recent school visits, a predator control donation, a save the date for our popular Winter Planting Day, and more.

Our native planting this season

Planting season is just around the corner and with 5,000 native seedlings on order, it’s going to be a busy one. We are planting mostly mānuka, kānuka, tī kōuka, kohuhu, makomako, and tarata, the species that we know do well and serve the purpose of establishing a canopy. With the dry summer and autumn this year, our planting has been delayed to the end of June and we hope for more rain to help prepare the ground. Thank you to Te Uru Rākau, Ministry of Primary Industries and Trees that Count for funding our 5,000 rākau this year.

Thanks to additional funding from Trees That Count, we are looking forward to welcoming three new schools to plant this winter as part of our Schools for Trees programme and inviting five additional schools to plant some of this season’s trees as well.

Thank you for your support

We were blown away by the support of our campaign to protect the peak from the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s (HBRC) proposed funding cut. Thank you to everyone who supported us by making a submission, sharing our social media, or discussing the topic with friends.  Submissions on the HBRC’s Three Year Plan have now closed. We have heard that submissions in support of the Park were numerous!

The next steps are:

• 29 and 30 May – public hearings (Te Mata Park Trust representatives will speak)
• 18 June – council deliberations
• 26 June – adoption of the Three Year Plan

Now we wait for the wheels of the council process to turn and remain optimistic that this funding will be retained, and our essential Park maintenance programme can continue.

Donation spotlight : The Ngā Tipuna Fund

The Protect the Peak campaign has shone a spotlight on how Te Mata Park is funded. We are proud of our lean operation and collaborative funding model: roughly a third of our funding comes from Hastings District Council, a third from the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, and the remaining third needs to be fundraised for each year.

We thought it timely to remind everyone that in 2021 the Trust established The Ngā Tīpuna Fund – an endowment fund with a long-term goal to ensure the financial sustainability of Te Mata Park. In time we hope that dividends from the fund will sustain the operations of the Park. Our goal is to raise $20 million within 20 years – and we welcome all donations, big or small, that will help us reach this goal. Please consider donating to the Ngā Tīpuna Fund and contributing to the protection and enhancement of Te Mata Park for generations to come.

You can donate to the fund online here, or contact our Fundraising & Grants Manager Catherine Mueller.

Autumn Working Bee

Thanks to all those who turned out for our Autumn Working Bee in April. It was a bit of a trek to get there and a steep slope to work on, but the collective efforts of the morning generated some great results with hundreds of native trees freed from the surrounding grasses and weeds. Thanks to all who joined and a particular thank you to Gourmeats for the sausages and Tumu Timbers for the loan of the BBQ, both of which enabled us to feed our hungry volunteers some well-deserved kai.

Thank Give a Trap!

We are fortunate to have received three new Boxed BT200 Traps thanks to Give a Trap and their supporters. These traps are particularly effective in controlling rats and stoats and are a welcome addition to the Park’s predator control efforts. Give a Trap is on a mission to empower Kiwis to get involved in the Predator Free 2050 goal. You can donate to Give a Trap and they will organise a trap to be sent to a local organisation in need of predator control, like us!

If you would like to donate a trap or funds to support predator efforts, you can do so via Give a Trap.

Schools for Trees mahi continues 

We were fortunate to have had two of our Schools for Trees partners, Havelock North High School and Havelock North Intermediate, in the Park this autumn working hard on their planting plots. They spent their time grass trampling, weeding, snail squashing and learning more about how to care for the native trees and the land.

We will be inviting all our six schools into the Park this term and look forward to welcoming three news schools to plant their areas this winter.

Save the date: Winter Planting Day, 23 June

Our popular Winter Planting Day will be held on Sunday 23 June, from 9-12. Please sign up to our volunteer list to receive the invitation and register your attendance.

Words from Mike Lusk – our veteran volunteer and flora and fauna expert

By the time you read this I hope the ground will be wet. Droughts are tiresome at any time but as far as planting is concerned the one we are enduring now is of particular concern as the ideal window to plant is from the first rains of autumn to about the middle of July, especially in the more exposed areas such as one of the two we have in our sights for this year. But we must cope with what nature serves us and she has been kind for the past two years in terms of rain.  By and large we plant appropriate to the site, resisting the temptation to plant glamour trees which normally get their start under a canopy. We’ve learned a lesson from trees such as tōtara and kawakawa both of which do poorly if planted in full sun.

If the drought persists, look for trees with drooping leaves, a reflection of stress. The first will be karamū and mahoe both of which are common on the upper Chambers Walk as it leaves the Te Mata Park Road carpark. By and large the whole tree doesn’t die but many do lose branches.

Peak House – the perfect autumn spot

As the weather cools down, Peak House is a particularly attractive spot to sit with a coffee, snack, or hearty lunch by the fire. The popular eatery is offering a new menu and is now open Mondays too. Peak House hours are: Monday, Thursday and Friday from 10am – 3pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am – 3pm (closed Tuesday and Wednesday). Hours are subject to change over winter.

You can book a table here and stay up to date with Peak House news on their Facebookpage and Instagram.

Te Mata Park survey coming soon

We would love to know what you think about Te Mata Park and we ask you to look out for the Te Mata Park 2024 Survey, coming to your inbox in June.

Image credit: Emma Van Wyk Photography.