March 2015 Recipients
The Bay of Islands Maritime Park Inc.’s ‘Living Waters’ project aims to restore local inland waterways by planting hundreds of native trees and shrubs. The community group received $3,339 from the Mazda Foundation to put towards plants, gardening tools and other much needed items.
The reserve currently has very few native plants and was in a state of neglect, covered with tall gorse and weeds until local volunteers cleared the area ready for seedlings. The planting will also be carried out by generous volunteers so they will have a personal stake in maintaining and caring for the reserve in the future.
The restoration will provide a habitat and food source for native birds and reduce soil erosion in a storm water ditch running through the reserve.
