15 October 2024
In early spring, members of the GDC Land Management Team helped to establish a poplar and willow nursery on Pourau Station at the Three Bridges. The area had previously been a part of a maize field but has since been altered and fenced to ensure that the young trees are not damaged by stock while they grow.
This project is part of an MPI funded contract that includes employment of two of the Land Management staff and development of three new nurseries on the East Coast- one for growing poplar and willow poles and two indigenous nurseries. The two other nurseries, which have been designated as native nurseries, are still currently in the pipeline. These nurseries will eventually help to supply material for erosion control projects on the Coast.
The team of four land management staff were also joined by Phillip Hope who is the current chairman of Pourau Station. The team were thankful to have him on the day as he not only contributed a strong work ethic but also tools and equipment that made the process significantly easier.
While the weather couldn’t decide if it was going to be hot, cold or wet the team still managed to plant around 500 “stools”. Stools are 500mm long cuttings taken from established nursery trees that will become the tree stump that grows the new poles.
Over the next 3 to 4 years the planted stools will establish and begin to grow to 3-meter thump-able poles that can be planted out on the hills. The poles are harvested from the nursery by cutting the tree approximately 250mm from the ground, leaving behind a stump that will coppice and regrow. The large 3m poles are preferred as they have better survival rates than smaller material and are more resistant to damage by livestock.
In the coming months, more work will be done to further increase the size of this new nursery by continuing to plant more rows of different varieties of willows and poplars that are believed to be better suited for the East Coast environment.
The location of this nursery also means that sites on the Coast that are in need of measures to prevent further erosion can be provided with poles that are more conveniently located, with the only current alternative being the transportation of poles from our nurseries in Bushmere Road or Waerenga-O-Kuri.
