Last week the Trees For Survival shade house units were delivered and installed with help from the Menz Shed Tauranga. 

We are so excited to be part of this programme. Trees For Survival are an environmental education programme growing and planting native plant species with school communities. Schools are each set up with a purpose-built, irrigated shade house and each year receive approx. 900 native seedlings which they 'pot up' into planting bags, then nurture in their shade house for a year before going out to a site and planting their plants the following year.

Schools are assigned a locally based Trees for Survival Facilitator who will help us with potting up, monitor plant growth, liaise with the school and landowners, coordinate and record planting day activity and assess and then monitor planting sites. There is lots of scope within the year for students to learn why they are doing the planting - erosion control, wildlife habitat, water filtration etc and lots of scope to use the growing plants within the teaching curriculum around biology, ecology, biodiversity etc.    

TFS look for planting sites which are being retired from pasture/grazing, erosion prone hillsides or watercourses that have been or are going to be fenced and if these areas can contribute to a wider ecological improvement. The sites are also monitored after planting for 2 years to track progress of our plants. The programme continues to run with new seedlings and planting of the previous year's seedlings each year.

Involvement from our community is important - involving people in our community is a great way to have help potting on and planting and also keeping an eye on and nurturing your plants.