Award Nominee

Nomination 1: Tradescantia (Tradescantia fluminensis) is a major environmental weed in New Zealand, and was a major problem at Kitchener Park, Feilding. Several groups have been working to remove this weed, including Keep Feilding Beautiful, people from local churches, members of the general public and and schoolchildren.

We worked on hands and knees and cleared it all. It was actually free of Tradescantia when we had the big flood in 2004 and that brought much of it back again! But once more all the helpers have managed to get it all under control again, A great effort! Albert James, Reserves Manager of the Manawatu District Council, has appointed Gavin Scott as the overall supervisor of the work done at the park. There are a small core of dedicated workers under him as well. Sir Edmund Hillary and also David Attenborough have all stated what an international asset this particular Park is. Gavin grows trees etc from the seeds in the Park at his home and only endemic plants are planted back into the Park. The schools gain valuable information and training from Gavin in this Park as well.

- Keep Feilding Beautiful Committee

Nomination 2: The 2004 Lower North Island floods left a trail of families and communities in shock, and also inundated the few remnant podocarp forests of the Manawatu plains with water, silt, and masses of invasive weeds.

The community of Feilding was particularly hard hit, with the town suffering significant flooding, and their prize forest remnant, Kitchener Park, receiving an overdose of flood borne weeds, primarily Tradescantia. This infestation, if unchecked, will permanently disrupt this forest remnant s sustainability processes and capacity to function as a microcosm of what was once the most common ecosystem of the Manawatu: podocarp forest and wetlands.

Alan Hawkins, and other members of Forest & Bird Manawatu and the local community (notably Chris Thomasen of Feilding), identified the pressing need to increase the resources available to clean the flood borne weeds out of the Kitchener Park if it were to recover from the floods ravages and return to health. It was recognised that the restoration would require the help of many hands, beyond the council s extant resource capacity for staff and contractors.

Alan s can do attitude and perseverance saw him form up the community-based group Friends of Kitchener Park, with the support of Forest & Bird Manawatu Branch, Manawatu District Council, and Horizons Regional Council. This group, established in 2005, has convened regularly (working parties at least 4X per year) and has now restored the forest floor across a substantial portion of the Reserve with plans and commitment to continue until the entire forest is again healthy. Alan has worked particularly hard to

maintain good communication within the group, to build up numbers of active volunteers and supporters (over 40 volunteers now), and to reward volunteers and bolster their spirits by looking after them with post-workparty BBQs and the like. Horizon s development of a prioritised management plan has aided in targeting these volunteers efforts to the areas where effort is best transformed into meaningful outcomes in terms of ensuring the sustainability of the Kitchener Park podocarp forest and wetlands. Manawatu District Council has come on board by regularly supplying transport to take the weed mass off-site for proper disposal where it will not contaminate other habitats.

Alan s work has sparked an increase in community spirit, has initiated a greater sense of caring for a significant publicly owned forest remnant on the Manawatu floodplain, and has built goodwill amongst community groups and local government representatives. This work has also been therapeutic for the community in coming to terms with the flood event in the wider context of the Manawatu watershed. The project s success and revitalisation of the area has spurred council interest to the point that they now have committed to building the towns first significant walkway, linking town centre with Kitchener Park, a distance of three kilometres.

Friends of Kitchener Park is an ongoing success, and well deserving of continued support and recognition.

As such it is my pleasure, on behalf of Forest & Bird, to nominate the Friends of Kitchener Park, led by Alan Hawkins, for a 2008 Weedbusters Award for Public Land in the Wanganui-Manawatu Region.

- Brent Barrett