TCDC celebrating World Environment Day

Calling all fans of our beautiful pohutukawa tree.

Thames-Coromandel District Council is celebrating World Environment Day with a mass planting of Pohutukawa in communities around the peninsula – and everyone is invited.

The wonderful folk at Project Crimson have donated 1000 young pohutukawa trees to the district and TCDC staff will be out and about with community volunteers to plant them on Thursday June 5, World Environment Day.

Volunteer groups made up of church-goers, school children, council staff, ratepayer organisations and reserve groups have already agreed to help at sites in Thames, Te Puru, Coromandel, Port Charles, Hot Water Beach, Whitianga, Tairua, Whangapoua, Waitete Bay and Sailors Grave.

Anyone wanting to bring a spade and plant a pohutukawa is welcome to join the effort and will be rewarded with refreshments afterward. To register interest and find out times and locations, volunteers should call the council on Ph 07 868 0200 or in Whangamata Ph 07 865 0060.

World Environment Day is about raising awareness and promoting action on national and global environmental issues. The international slogan this year is Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy in recognition that climate change is becoming the defining issue of our era.

Mayor Philippa Barriball, who will join one of the planting sessions on the day, is a member of the Climate Change committee of Local Government New Zealand and says globally there’s a growing awareness and increasing desire to limit our impact on our planet.

“We’re looking at the initiatives that government is likely to implement for New Zealand, but as a citizen, and a community leader, I know there are lots of things I can do at home that make a difference. Recycling, water and energy conservation and tree planting are just a few.”

Parks Manager Derek Thompson says the council is extremely grateful to Project Crimson for their generosity and work providing the free pohutukawa trees. Council staff will soon collect seed from Rata trees in the district to give to Project Crimson to assist in their work.

Project Crimson is a charitable conservation trust formed in 1990 and it relies on sponsorship and sales of unique Project Crimson gifts. Volunteers have successfully established hundreds of thousands of pohutukawa and rata trees since the trust was established. For more on Project Crimson visit www.projectcrimson.org.nz