Wow!!! What a fantastic day of planting.

When 120 keen planters woke up on a wet Friday the 15th morning, most would have thought Saturday’s tree planting was in doubt. However, mother nature had different ideas, putting on a lovely sunny day with the perfect combination of moist soil and blue sky.

This day was a result of the great partnership shared by Sustainable Coastlines and Pit Stop. The relationship dates back to the infancy of Sustainable Coastlines when the Pit Stop crew were helping us out by fixing the old Land Cruisers. Ten years on, and the team at Pit Stop are still a major partner, and it was Sustainable Coastlines’ pleasure to create this public tree planting day with them.

Dan Downing, Sustainable Coastlines Programmes Manager, kicked off the day with a message to say how much it meant to Sustainable Coastlines and Pit Stop to have so many people come out to plant some trees. Dan explained that according to the Swiss University ETH Zürich’s recent publication in the journal Science, one of the best things people can do to help combat rising emissions and climate change is to plant a tree. This simple act has many direct impacts: reducing sediment, sequestering carbon dioxide from the air, absorbing run-off through their roots, and creating habitat which fosters biodiversity.

Following on from a Health and Safety briefing, the army of planters were escorted to the planting area where Sustainable Coastline staff conducted a tree planting demonstration.

Dotted about the planting area was a mixture of Manuka, Umbrella sedge and Harakeke which volunteers eagerly got stuck into planting.

2,500 trees and lots of laughs later, planters were given a delicious Pit Stop lunch, feeling satisfied from a humble Saturday’s planting.

Once again, thanks to everyone who came. See you at the next one!

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Pit Stop and Sustainable Coastlines invite you to Trimdon Reserve, Papakura for a special day of planting trees and connecting to nature.

The planting area is located along the Takanini School Road Stream, which flows into the Pahurehure inlet and into the Manukau Harbour. Last year we planted 3,000 trees in this same reserve, so we will have an awesome chance to check on their progress, whilst planting more further down stream.

Bring your family, friends and colleagues on Saturday 13th July to 118 Takanini School Road, Trimdon Reserve Area, Papakura and we’ll arm you with all the knowledge and tools to get going. Planting starts at 9:30 and will be going all day until 2:30pm, come for as long or as short as you like.

If you want to be part of our planting team on this date, please register on the form below. Even if you can only spare a few hours we would love to see you there.