The Muri Environment Care which is a group comprised of 10 to sometimes 20 avidly passionate residents of Muri has been active for 11 years, tending to four of the main streams in the area.
The group also organises jobs and initiatives to tend to the many problems that are affecting both the land and sea through those streams.
In the past they had done projects which include clearing all of the Te Are Mango stream which had been taken over by an invasive plant, multiple beach clearings and plantings, an annual motu beach cleanup plus many algae removal in Muri lagoon.
Their latest initiative, the Native Nursery project was created with the aim of researching and planting select trees and plants in each of the four streams that run through Muri.
Through this, the group hopes to achieve:
- Preserve the soil which due to a lack of strong roots from solid plants and trees is being flushed right into the Muri lagoon during heavy rains and,
- To ensure that future generations continue to have good soil to plant on that is not lost to polluting the lagoons when it is washed away down to the beaches.
Anne Tierney from The Muri Environment Care said: “What our big concern is, is just keeping Muri lagoon operating naturally by removing the man-made mistakes that have caused damage.”
The idea for the Native Nursery came about when the group noticed a few years back that they were receiving much heavier rains in the Muri area which was causing big soil washouts from the land side into the beaches.
This drew attention as group members and residents realised flooding was beginning to become a big problem due to degradation from both the lagoon and the land side.
With the water travelling very fast down streams due to the lack of plants with strong roots to keep that soil in place, the group decided they would start researching and organising plants to be placed in those streams. These plants needed to have strong enough roots to preserve and filter that soil in those areas, preventing too much of it from travelling at that fast pace towards the lagoon and polluting it.
Tierney said: “The main focus would be to get a filtration system going where the floodwaters are not rushing straight out and carrying all the toxins with it. We can get a system going in the valley and through the wetland at the bottom so that by the time it gets out into the lagoon a lot of the soil would have stayed behind.”
Tierney expressed gratitude on behalf of the group to Brennan Pazarella who has a background in native nursery and had been doing much of the research for the plants which will be planted in the streams.
She said that their biggest goal for each of their projects including this one was for people to know that something had been done to solve the problems they had been facing and that natural and sustainable solutions thrives.
Tierney expressed her gratitude to the people of Muri who are very passionate about the state of their lagoon.
“It’s a treat to be able to know that most of the projects that we come up with will always have some support and if we put them on at the right times when people are able to help us, they get magic support,” she said.
Already, the group has received confirmation that they will have some soil donated to go towards the Native Nursery project as well as timber and seedlings.
“We really do need lots of help and lots of advice, practical comments and lots of pairs of hands!”
