Bay of Plenty Regional Council, in partnership with multi award-winning charity, Sustainable Coastlines, is putting the call out for local schools, businesses and volunteers to join together to create cleaner waterways and coastlines.

Working together, they will be out and about planting salt marsh and coastal shrubs in the Lower Kaituna area on the weekend of 22 and 23 June.

Regional Council have over 50,000 plants to restore salt marsh in the upper estuary this winter on land that was in rough pasture until recently.

'We're hoping for a good turn out from Maketū, Te Puke and the wider community to help us get the first of these plants into the ground,” says Regional Council's Senior Projects Officer, Courtney Bell.

'We are hosting two planting days at Ford Rd, in Maketū, and we'd love your help."

The joint riparian restoration effort will contribute to Te Awa o Ngatoroirangi / Maketū Estuary becoming healthier. It will also create 20 hectares of wetlands around the estuary margin, to help filter nutrients and create breeding areas for fish and birds.

As part of the ANZ Love Your Water Tour 2019, Sustainable Coastlines is working with hundreds of Kiwi volunteers to plant tens of thousands of native plants and trees along waterways in ten New Zealand regions.

Sam Judd, Co-Founder of Sustainable Coastlines and former Young New Zealander of the Year, is looking to the community to take up the challenge.

'Cleaning up our waterways is an immense challenge. It is an issue that affects everyone in the community.” Despite the difficulty, he remains confident that it can be done.

'Planting trees next to waterways is one way that we can tackle this challenge with measurable results. The goal of this tour is to support local efforts and scale up this awesome activity.”

Community Planting Days

Te Pā Ika Planting Day 1, Saturday 22 June, 10am – 1pm, Ford Road, Maketū
Te Pā Ika Planting Day 2, Sunday 23 June, 10am – 1pm, Ford Road, Maketū

All volunteers are welcome. All equipment supplied, but Health and Safety requirements mean you will need to wear gumboots or sturdy, closed-toe shoes that you don't mind getting a bit muddy. Sausage sizzle lunch provided by J Swap Contractors.

About Sustainable Coastlines:

Sustainable Coastlines works with partners and community groups to keep New Zealand coastlines and waterways beautiful. The charity coordinates and supports large-scale coastal clean-up events, educational programs, public awareness campaigns and riparian planting projects.

Since establishing in 2008 Sustainable Coastlines, together with almost 90,000 local supporters, have planted more than 98,000 trees and picked up almost 1.5 million litres of rubbish from New Zealand waters.

About the Kaituna River Rediversion Project

You can find out more about this great project to restore at least 20 percent of the Kaituna River's freshwater flows into the estuary and re-creating 20 hectares of wetlands around the estuary margin.