By Greg Hay
World Environment Day and Arbor Day are both taking place on Sunday but more than 2000 kiwis started early in Hamilton today.
They'd come from all over Auckland and the Waikato to get their hands dirty and replant an ancient forest.
“You wouldn't think 300 years ago this was all kaura and kahikatea. Now you have a chance to make mother earth, papatuanuku live again,” says Wiremu Puke of the Waiwhakareke Advisory Group.
At 60 hectares, Waiwhakareke Park is the largest inland restoration project in the country. Replanting it is a partnership between Fonterra, the Hamilton City Council and local volunteers.
"We're creating a new forest in the heart of the city and a forest that'll have trees in it that will live for a thousand years,” says Waiwhakareke Management Group’s Professor Bruce Clarkson.
The flat nature of the Waikato catchment saw virtually all of its native forests cleared for farming by settlers. There was an intimidating 30,000 trees to be planted today, but the scale of the project didn't seem to worry anyone.
“Let’s not stop here, I think our city deserves more kahikatea forests that gives our city a real affinity with the land it sits upon,” says Mr Puke.
More than 13,000 plants have already gone in at Waiwhakareke Park before today.
“People are really enthusiastic because they know they're part of something that is literally truly wonderful and they're part of something that hopefully, if the planet survives, is gonna be here in a 1000 years time,” says Hamilton City Council’s Martin Gallagher.
And while none of us will ever live to see that forest, big things always come from a small beginning.
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