Award Nominee

The Basin Weedbusters group was formed in June 2005. when Winsome Fisher approached Weedbusters man Dan O Halloran, at the Department of Conservation s Bay of Islands Area Office in Kerikeri, with her concerns of the weed problem in the Kerikeri Basin area.

Native flora around the Rainbow Falls Track, Kororipo Pa track and Rewa s village, were being strangled with honeysuckle, jasmine and passsionfruit vines and both gorse and tobacco weed were so big the scenic views were being obscured. Winsome felt that with the number of both local and international visitors to the area, this required urgent attention.

Winsome gathered interested locals and joined with DOC support of local and international volunteers and the group met every second Monday of the month. Since January 06 this has been extended to include the fourth Monday of each month as well, as the group felt once a month wasn t making an impact.

Winsome, and her husband David, are so dedicated to their fight against invasive weeds, that they keenly supported the DOC Kerkeri Plant shadehouse team at Christmas, selling wilding pines, as Christmas trees, and raised more than $500 for the Shadehouse.

Newspaper adverts and press releases promoted their return to Weedbusting in the New Year, but their was little response to boost local involvement. The changes to DOC s international volunteer programme also meant that they could no longer offer the Basin team the assistance they needed.

Winsome and her team are determined to continue and have requested permanent signs in the Basin area asking locals to get involved, as well as promoting the Weedbusting teams efforts by doing presentations to other community groups such as Rotary and garden groups.

Broni Nicol, DOC (nominator)